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“Who am I? Why am I here?”

No, seriously. Those aren’t rhetorical queries. I really have no idea.

From what I can piece together– based on theexultant Gateway pundit post on my monitor, and the throbbing pain in my forehead– I apparently read something I found incredibly dumb, and then banged my head on my desk until I blacked out.

Gateway celebrates a report saying the U.S. has killed about 19,000 “militants” in Iraq since the invasion. Ok. But before you jump up and link arms with Mr. Gateway and start doing Holden’s “superior dance”, I think a little sobering context is in order. We’ve lost about 4,000 Americans in Iraq, and about 30,000 have been injured. Even if we declared victory and pulled all combat forces out of Iraq within the next year, theminimum total cost of this Iraq misadventure, all things considered, will be about a trillion bucks (if nottwo). So what does that come to, roughly? About$50 million per militant killed? Isn’t that the same amount we are offering as a reward if someone kills or captures OBL for us?

And try not to think about the 80,000 plus Iraqis who have been killed since the invasion, and all the new “militants” who have been created and recruited as a result of this violence… or else you might hurt your head like I did when you come across these celebrating warbloggers.

Ah yes, good. My memory has been “jogged”, and seems to be working again. I believe my name is oyster and I write from New Orleans atYour Right Hand Thief. Also, I seem to recall that First Draft is “all killer and no filler”, and that I’m immensely grateful to Athenae for inviting me to guest blog here.

In future days and posts, I will attempt to explain many things, including the phenomenon of Louisiana RepublicanBobby Jindal. You’ll be hearing more and more about this odd man and his fellow travelers, since I believe it’s a lead pipe cinch that Jindal will be elected Louisiana’s next Governor on Saturday.

So, thank you in advance for letting me vent on you.

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* title reference link

7 thoughts on ““Who am I? Why am I here?””

  1. Oyster, I don’t mean to be mean, but your estimate of Iraqis killed is about a factor of ten low. The two studies that say so are statistical, but use methods generally agreed (and used by the US even now, in other conflicts) to yield good-enough estimates of deaths.
    All the wingnuts have to counter this is intimidation, to get you to adopt the same position of intentional immoral ignorance that they hold.

  4. Since relatives are afraid to come in to morgues to identify bodies, many deaths are unconfirmed asbona fide Iraqis. Much higher than 80,000.
    As Mr. Putin has today noted that this war is without any merit, it would appear that he’s more concerned with the U.S.’s wellbeing than the occupier of the White House.

  7. Hey, Erster, will you tell us about the $50,000 campaign money that Jindal took from the Colorado company that wants to build a dump in Baton Rouge – a dump that the folks in Baton Rouge don’t want cuz they already got dumps?

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