[lendaddy]

FWIW, what "the" said about the casualty count being perfectly fair game in a pro/anti war discussion stuck in my head last night and I gave it some thought. It goes without saying that of course he's right, but that's not what we're talking about here. I'm not asking that we not mention the deaths or that they not be a metric for success or failure.

In a rational discussion one could look at historical casualty rates and have a fair argument over where this war stands and what should have been expected etc... That is not what is happening here.

If you find yourself defending the war in any way you are lambasted with the guilt of lives lost, as if zero was a possibility. Not a rational argument that they are unusually high for the mission, just the guilt stick for it's own sake. This is actually a fair approach if you are against ALL war, if that's your internal philosophy then the argument is genuine. Again, here that is not the case.