Memorial Day

On this day, let us remember the many thousands of Americans who died protecting our freedoms--and the many thousands more who died for lies or oil or empire.

We should also remember the millions who have died worldwide in wars of which Americans know little and seemingly care less. The deadliest current war isn't Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Darfur, or even the so-called "war on terror." As Time reports, some four million people have died in the bloody Congo conflict since 1998. And do you know what the bloodiest war of the 19th Century was? The U.S. Civil War? One of the Napoleonic wars, or even all of them put together? the U.S. wars against Mexico or Spain? The Franco-Prussian War? How about none of the above. The bloodiest conflict in the world in the 19th Century, by far, was the Taiping Rebellion in China from 1851 to 1864. Estimates of the death toll range from 20 million to 50 million--challenging the totals of World War II for the title of worst war ever. And I never heard of it until it was mentioned in passing in a book about the California gold rush.

So let's not spend too much time remembering, when there are so many things we still don't know!