Anyone care to take a stab at how many people

[Guaranteed]

American soldiers have killed in defense of our country (or otherwise) over the past 220+ years? I really have no idea, myself, but I imagine, with all of the wars that we've engaged in, it's a rather large number.

I'm watching this special on CNN where they're talking to vets of WWII, Vietnam, and Desert Storm...the stories they're talking about are just horrible. It makes me wonder...I don't know. There are so many stories out there just like theirs. All those numbers seem so dry and meaningless when we hear them...2,000,000 Vietnamese...50,000 Iraqis, and the like...but for every one of those dead people there's a story, and there's an American that killed them and had to live with it (or not).

I can't get my mind around the things that we've done. How do you all approach this issue, for yourselves? Do you just try to not think about it? I don't know how to make sense of it.

[OneBlueSky]

1. a more relevant question might be . . .

how many human beings have died in wars over the past 200 years? . . . and how many of those wars had religion as their root cause? . . .

[never cry wolf]

2. Well....

I wouldn't call Nam or Iraq exactly as defense of our country seeing as how neither threatened us in the least. If you think about it maybe only the revolutionary war, the war of 1812 and the civil war threatened our country along with WWII.

[Guaranteed]

3. Of course...that's why I said "(or otherwise)"

That makes this issue just that much more difficult for me to understand.

When I think about all those that we've killed, it seems to me that most of them probably didn't deserve to die- no more than any of our soldiers did, anyway. They, too, were at the mercy of their leaders, just doing what those that were entrusted with taking care of their country told them to do.

[Sandpiper]

4. WWI was also

An elective war for the most part.

Woodrow Wilson had Messianic delusions about waging a "war to end all wars" and make the world safe for democracy.

Sound familiar?

[SarahB]

5. In Bowling for Columbine

I remember something in regards to 100 million, but I'm not completely sure on the time frame. Anyone?