The infinite compassion of the General and Sec Def

I'm sure the mothers and fathers who have lost their daughters and sons in Iraq are thrilled to hear from the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs that their kids' deaths are the "wrong metric" to use when measuring the utility of the US occupation of Iraq.

The recent rise in U.S. troop deaths in Iraq is the "wrong metric" to use in assessing the effectiveness of the new security strategy for Baghdad, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday in a news conference with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

Despite military reports to Congress that use numbers of attacks and overall levels of violence as an important gauge of Iraq's security status, Gates and Pace told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday that violence is not a useful measure of progress.

So okay.  Let's start by ending our part in the violence, since it's not a "useful measure."

Actually, I have a little suggestion to make, a little rule which will apply to all wars in the future.  My little rule says that at a certain turning point -- when the deaths of the population and of our troops add up to a certain percentage of the total -- our troops are replaced by members of the executive (including military brass and intelligence community) and legislators who voted for the war-- starting at the top and working on down through the ranks.  That seems fair, doesn't it?