3000
January 1st, 2007
In a grim coincidence of milestones, the last U.S. soldier killed in Iraq in 2006 was also the 3000th killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war. (Unless reports of more deaths come to light.) The soldier, Specialist Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed in Southern Baghdad.
But hey, Bush got to hang Saddam, complete with shaky cellphone-camera video of his death being spread over the Internet. So it was “worth it“, apparently.
Well, perhaps now that Bush has had the chance to get this whole Saddam thing out of his system, we can hope that he will focus on things that actually are worth it.
Sure, it’s a slim chance, I admit, but if hanging Saddam was good for anything, maybe it will eliminate one of this administration’s obsessions. From here on out, Bush is going to have to show substantial accomplishments to keep support for his war from petering out completely.
From a certain point of view, in light of the staggering incompetence that has characterized the Bush administration’s handling of this war from Day One, it is not impossible to be thankful that it has only cost 3,000 American lives to get to this point. Given who is running the show, it could have been much worse.