hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu (03/01/91)
We have fortunately managed to avoid arguments over the wisdom of the recent war, and I do not intend to open such a discussion. However some things I've been hearing in the last few days really bother me. I keep hearing people on the news talk about how wonderful it is that we've conquered the whole Iraqi army and only 138 of our people have been killed. I agree that this is an amazing accomplishment, that it is proper to be very grateful that no more of our people were killed, and that both our military and their commanders deserve our admiration. However, at the same time I'm hearing estimates of up to 100,000 Iraqi soldiers killed. This figure is typically quoted in the same tone of voice as the 175,000 who surrendered and all the other amazing accomplishments of our military. The tone of these reports is beginning to bother me. I'm beginning to get the impression that because they are Iraqis, their deaths somehow do not count. I do not blame our commanders for thinking first of their own people. That is quite proper for them. But it seems to me that once a war is over, we should consider enemy dead just as important as our own. I would like to hope that Christians would find some way to remind people that we do not confine our concern for others to political boundaries.