A while back on this blog, I pointed out the ridiculousness of this statement by Fred Thompson: “Our people have shed more blood for the liberty and freedom of other peoples in this country than all the other countries put together.” I cited some figures on American dead in various wars, then pointed out that among other massive casualty figures, tens of millions of Russians died in WWII. That dwarfs anything America has experienced. Not to belittle the sacrifices our country has paid, but Thompson’s statement was wayyy off base.
As a result, the comments section lit up. The highlights:
– “Stein’s unambiguous dislike for the Tennessean has cluttered his mind.”
– “Johnathan [sic] Stein hearts Stalin.”
– “Mr. Stein is- and has always been- free to relocate to any of the few remaining Stalinist ‘paradises’ left on Earth.”
Well, I’m still here. And it turns out that, empowered by the shouting of our commentors, Fred Thompson decided to ignore my debunking and continued using the statement in his campaign. And so, the new truth-rooting wing of the Washington Post, called Fact Checker, had to take Thompson to task.
It’s conclusion?
While heavy, U.S. military casualties are still relatively low in comparison to the military casualties of its World War II and World War I allies. In World War II alone, the Soviet Union suffered at least eight million military deaths, or ten times the number of U.S. deaths in all wars combined….
Even if we exclude the Soviet Union from the calculation, U.S. military deaths in all wars combined remain lower than those of the British Commonwealth (“a combination of nations,” in Thompson’s phrase) in World War I and World War II.
So please, folks, click over to the Post and tell them to move to the Stalinist ‘paradises.’ I don’t deserve your scorn.
