The bleak summary of numbers illustrates a point of clarity.
Civil War - At least 618,000.
WW II - 405,399
Since the Iraq conflict began, around 170,000 Americans died in automobile accidents.
WW I - 116,516
Vietnam - 58,209
Korea - 36,574
Mexican War - 13,283
Philippine-American War - 4,324
War of 1812 - 2,260
Spanish-American War - 2,446
In the latter two wars, the involved military forces were less than a tenth of the size of our current military. Likewise, American deaths might be expected to have more of an impact given the smaller population of the country at the time.
Since the Iraq conflict began, around 170,000 Americans died in automobile accidents. Yet, no one is outraged with automobile deaths and no one is seriously calling for an end to driving.
Whatever one feels about the misguided notions and wrongful thinking of how the U.S. entered the war, simply citing combat deaths as a reason to withdraw seems misplaced. Relatively speaking, the numbers are significantly less than most American conflicts.
If you throw out the in many ways non-comparable internal Civil War, and WW II, automobile deaths are a huge tragedy that few are outraged about, and the fact is the U.S. has been relatively unscathed. Our deaths are low relative to the size of our population.
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