The Seventy-years war(s)?

VOICE & VISION | History & Reflection

By TLS

Incredible but true.

Recently my wife and I watched The Viet Nam War series on PBS by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. It was absolutely phenomenal.

But, it got me thinking about the length of that war plus the amount of time we’ve currently been at war. I knew all the dates already but had never really lined it all up and did the math. Our day to day lives seem rather peaceful so this revelation is a bit surprising.

Here are the numbers, with sources. The numbers could possibly be argued from one source to another but thats not the point. Any argument will be variations on a theme. Here is the theme:

Korean war 1950-1953 = 3 years

KIA: 23,613 (1)

Viet Nam war 1954-1975 = 21 years

KIA: 58,220 (2)

Persian Gulf war 1990-1991 = 1 year

KIA: 219 (3)

Global War on Terror 2001-2021 = 20 years

KIA: 7078 (4)

71 year time span, 45 years of war; 89,130 U.S. citizens KIA. Hundreds of thousands to millions of enemy combatants, unlawful combatants, civilians, and others killed. This number doesn’t even come close to those wounded, displaced, or suffering various other types of trauma.

What does this mean?

Strategists, economists, philosophisers, governmentals, hawks, doves, academics, and all others will debate the value of these conflicts for as long as there are people to argue. Was there a cost? Yes, an enormous one. Was it the most economical possible while living this dirty, difficult, dangerous, and unpredictable life we do on this wandering rock circling some random star? We’ll most certainly never know. Was it the worst possible? I doubt it.

But what if the U.S. hadn’t engaged in these wars?

Considering the other nations and governments around at the time of each of these conflicts, one cannot easily imagine a much better outcome. And, one must also consider those events from within those time frames with all the time specific nuances, difficulties, and challenges when evaluating these situations. If during each of these eras, China or the Soviet Union (at that time) and then Russia were left unchecked, or allowed to dictate the global direction, how could anyone assume there would have been a better outcome?

Also, the other Western nations during each of these times did not have the political, economic, cultural, governmental, or military power to act in our stead.

The U.S. found itself in a new role coming out of World War II; a democratic, human rights valuing, world police or at least last resort security system. In order to remain a world power the U.S. had to influence and even direct foreign governments to align with our own interests. If one considers the then available options around the world, choosing the U.S. should not require a lot of intellectual horsepower.

Additionally, the U.S. like most other nations behaves a lot like people in our daily lives, some are good, some are bad. For better or worse most try to do right but too often fail or fall short. Sometimes the people of the U.S. were misled, sometimes intentionally, and there should be an accounting for those instances. Sometimes the people were misled for legitimate, or at least realistic security concerns.

In the wrong, or at least most egregious examples, those responsible should be held accountable. The other times where we can’t really do anything about what has already happened; simply learn what lessons we can. Is this a simplistic view?Yes! But burning down our house as many would prefer is not the answer. Fixing what needs repaired is a much better idea.

Expecting the U.S., and its people, to achieve some infallible elite moral high ground may be the expectation of some, but it is an unrealistic expectation. After all what is the U.S. made up of? People, very fallible people. Fortunately, most Americans at least try for that moral high ground. Also fortunately, most understand we will never achieve it, but we can still reach for it.

(1)https://dcas.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/app/conflictCasualties/korea/koreaSum

(2)https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics#:~:text=April%2029%2C%202008.-,The%20Vietnam%20Conflict%20Extract%20Data%20File%20of%20the%20Defense%20Casualty,and%20Records%20Administration%20in%202008.

(3)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8071721/#:~:text=Of%20the%20219%20(212%20men,a%20result%20of%20friendly%20fire.

(4)https://www.statista.com/statistics/1009819/total-us-military-fatalities-in-american-wars-1775-present/

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