A Tragedy Squared

On the day when the US Troops killed in action in Afghanistan and Iraq surpassed the total killed in the Horror that was 9/11 - I can't help but feel an incredible sadness for all of the loss of life. Then I remembered a conversation that I had with a gentleman of Chinese decent who came to the United States as a young man - now in his fifties - I'll call him Jan.

We were having lunch when the conversation eventually drifted to our mutual anger at the current administration and the War in Iraq. It was then that Jan made the point that in today's global society he feels that humanity is beginning to take precedence over military might. He went on to explain how during WWII, casualties of war, particularly the enemy, were viewed as inevitable. It was all about winning that particular battle. The worry about the damage was secondary - an afterthought. His point was that with modern communications, satellites and instant news, the world no longer accepts death so casually. And it is his theory that this humanity has begun to render countries impotent if all they have is military might. Sound like any country you know?

The future super powers will have to build giant coalitions and amass huge diplomatic machines to be effective world leaders. As Jan said that day - the age of the military machine is waning as our mistake in Iraq shows all too clearly.

We can only hope Jan is correct.

2974 U.S. and ? number of Iraqi's - rest in peace.