RUTHFULLY YOURS

Bret Stephens seems to work hard at finding new things about which to complain about President Trump. In his latest column,  it is our relationship with Australia.

In his column on September 23, Stephens says Australia has suffered 100,000 casualties in the last century in America’s wars —  Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan.

“A visit to the Australian War Memorial is a moving reminder that Australians have fought alongside Americans in nearly all of our wars over the past century: in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and — to this day — Afghanistan. More than 100,000 Aussies perished in these efforts, a staggering sacrifice for a country with less than 8 percent of America’s population.”

Australian War Memorial

In fact, the number of Australians who died in these four wars is fewer than 1,000:

340 in Korea;

521 in Vietnam;

2 in Iraq; and

42 in Afghanistan

905 in total.

Australia suffered heavy casualty counts in World War 1: 61,532, and in World War 2: 39,652, and even if one were generous enough to assume Stephens meant to include these wars, Australia’s relationship with Great Britain had a lot more to do with their involvement in these wars than anything to do with the United States. Most of Australia’s World War 1 casualties were absorbed before the United States even entered the war., and not in the last century in any case.