As I expected, the Washington Post led off today’s news with the magic number 2000. What I did not expect was for them to be as fair about it as they were:

The deaths in Iraq are relatively few compared with other wars in U.S. history, and they pale dramatically in comparison with the losses in the two world wars, when the United States saw a combined total of more than half a million fall. The Iraq death total also falls far short of the worst nine years of the Vietnam War, from 1964 to 1973, when more than 58,000 U.S. troops did not return, an average of more than 6,400 deaths a year.

Those numbers are pretty clear. Folks, it could be a whole lot worse for our troops’ families than it is right now. Our guys over there are doing a great job, one that really matters in the long term picture, and are doing it the right way. We need to back off and give them the time and resources to get the job done right.