Andrew Sullivan today approvingly posts an email from a reader comparing the post WWII occupation of Japan with Iraq. I suppose I understand the point that's trying to be made here, but really, let's be honest... the comparison is ludicrous.
The post-war occupation of Japan was precisely that: post-war. The Japanese had, you might recall, surrendered and admitted defeat. In Iraq, by contrast, the war is very much an ongoing phenomenon. To compare the troop levels in each as if they were somehow the same makes absolutely no sense.
Unless, I suppose, your intention was to show that relative to Japan we have fewer troops in Iraq per capita than we once did in a defeated Japan. But that doesn't seem to be the point here, so....
Normally I'd just ignore something like this, but I've seen the comparison made several other places over the past few months, and I'm really getting tired of it.
Know your history, people. Please.
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