A former State Department official, J. Kael Weston, reminded us yesterday in a newspaper article that more than Americans have been killed in the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the last 17 years hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans have also died. While some were killed by American soldiers and American bombs, far more were killed by ISIS, the Taliban, or Al Qaeda.
Many of those were people working with Americans to rebuild schools, homes, even mosques. Others were soldiers trained by Americans, or translators, or teachers who taught girls, or police officers doing their duty. Americans, even those serving more than one tour, know they will eventually be coming home. The Iraqis and the Afghans who support democracy, or free speech, or educational progress, will continue living among people who, given the chance, will murder them.
Let’s not forget them either.
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