Rhetorical Ambushes

MSNBC correspondent David Shuster rhetorically ambushed Tennessee Representative Marsha Blackburn with the name of dead soldier from her district. Fact checking later showed that Shuster was the one in error, the soldier wasn't from Blackburn's district at all. Instapundit had this to say:

Interestingly, though, it's a trap that, in its nature, underscores how historically low casualties are in this war. You wouldn't have heard that question in World War II, not only because the press would have been ashamed to ask it, but because casualties then were such that nobody could possibly keep track. That it can be asked in this war demonstrates not only the cheap-shot tendencies of a hopelessly partisan press, but also the small scale of the actual warfare.

Very true. This was driven home in a meeting I had yesterday about the war. I can't talk about most of it, but one of the factoids I thought was interesting had to do with the relative death rates in various US Wars. About 200 people died per day in WWI, in WWII it was 300, in Korea it was 30, in Vietnam it was 20, in Iraq it is only 2.

And on the subject of ambushes, how about Ahmadinejad's trip to Columbia? It didn't quite turn out like I expected, thats for sure. I would like to point out one little thing though: Admadinejad is not a dictator. While the Presidency of Iran is not the figurehead position it once was, the real power in Iran lies not with the elected President but with the appointed Supreme Leader. If you want to call someone a brutal despot, you need to point your finger at Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.