David Obey: “the 21st century in terms of American lives lost was the bloodiest in our history and the meanest, except for the 19th…”

“the 21st century in terms of American lives lost was the bloodiest in our history and the meanest, except for the 19th, in which we conducted an American Civil War which put brother against brother and from which we are still suffering some of the consequences. Now, we are turning into a different century, and it is to be hoped that America's role in the world is changing somewhat. At this point, there is no other power in the world that even comes close. We have the military might to cover any region, to reach any region, to sail any sea, to find and hit virtually any target, if we want; but we also have another role, and that role has been to try to serve not so much as a fighter, but as a separator of parties in many regional fights, in a peacekeeping role. Now, that is going to be a very messy situation. It is not always going to work, and there will be Americans who die. But if we do it right, there will be far less for America to pay in human terms than we have seen in each of the previous two centuries; that is what we try to do through the peacekeeping operations in the United Nations.”