What words are left?

Webster's
Main Entry: quag·mire
Pronunciation: 'kwag-"mIr, 'kwäg-
Function: noun
1 : soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot
2 : a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position


Bill Day

I have seen the war in Iraq described as horrific, terrible and bloody. I've seen the press try to make out that there no justification for such high causalities. It's been called a quagmire since the dat after the shooting started and now, 3 days have the handover, Bill Day is still calling it a quagmire. But what are the nubmers compared to the wars of the last century?

We are in our 16th month in Iraq with 800 combat dead. The first number is based upon total US combat deaths then divided by the number of months the US was fighting to get the average death rate over a 16 month period. The second number is real deaths adjusted for population (Current, 1900-1999, 1860)

World War II - 150,846 / 378,623
World War I - 98,118 / 278,655
Korea - 18,082 / 33,813
Vietnam - 7,755 / 11,477
Gulf War - 2,320* / 2,691*
Iraq - 800 / 800

BONUS
US Civil War - 208,170 / 1,967,207

Quagmire?

(* - The Gulf War of 1991 lasted one month. This number is extrapolated from the 145 deaths from that month.)