Iraq

[^_^ 5,021]

this is a poll but please leave it in P&R

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The premise of your first question is invalid. U.S. casualties were not as high in any conflict since Vietnam by comparison. As to the other two questions, the more bullet launchers there are in a theater, the more likely somebody is going to get shot.

Of course, for the highest casualties experienced by Americans in a single conflict, nothing compares to Lincoln's War.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Some Old Guy

[웃 910]

4,xxx US casualties in 8 years doesn't seem like a "high number of US casualties" in comparison to other wars (+50,000 Vietnam...+600,000 Civil War...+115,000 WWI....+400,000 WWII)

Those are big numbers....This war is on par with the Philippine-American War which lasted about 15 years and resulted in about 4,200 casualties

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war

[chri'stina 190]

I don't feel like I know enough on the subject to answer the first two Q's.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Should be in the Poll section

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

When is the most effective tool of an insurgency? - The bomb, not a firearm.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

When is the most effective tool of an insurgency? - The bomb, not a firearm.

Not just the bomb (or boobytrap), but the threat of it's use. Even decoys and dummies can be as effective as the real thing.

[SMR 368]

I feel that the questions in this poll have an agenda beyond information gathering.

In Bosnia, the level of American ground troop involvement is not comparable to American ground troop involvement in Iraq. The question is worded to try and state that American casualties are relatively high. While they are tragic, they aren't high relative to other wars.

As far as small arms proliferation being a factor, obviously if they Iraqis had fewer guns, they would be less able to kill, at least to some extent. Additionally, you have again characterized the casualties as high, which is subjective and leading.

In the third question, you have only offered two options. I find it hard to believe that anyone could reasonably answer "fewer." Perhaps the same. But if you're invading an area, how can an increase in the guns that your enemy has decrease your casualties?