According to information released by the US Defense Department, by October 25, the US death toll in the Iraq War has risen to 2,000, in addition to 15,000 wounded, more than 7,100 of them are too seriously wounded to resume performance of their tasks.

At the time when US troops suffer continued loss and are in urgent need of supplement of source of troops, the recruitment of soldiers for the US army has become a major difficult problem, the number of right-age youths willing to join the army has been in a downward trend in the past few months, with the result that US soldier enlisting plan has fallen through again and again. It seems that the US army fails to accomplish the task of recruiting soldiers this year has become a foregone conclusion, this is the first time ever in the past five to six years. Such a sharp contrast of rise and fall really gives people food for thought.

The situation in Iraq is still in turbulence and there is endless smoke of gunpowder, causing increase in the casualties of US troops stationed in Iraq, as have been expected. On September 7 last year, that is one and a half years after the start of the war in Iraq, the number of casualty of US officers and men was just over one thousand. It is just a little over one and half years since then, there is another one thousand American officers and soldiers who died in another country. A comparison of the two figures shows that the frequency of the death of US troops in Iraq undoubtedly is rising at a faster rate. A probe into the reasons shows that besides the consistent instability of the situation in Iraq and the frequent warfare, change in the fighting method by the Iraqi anti-US armed forces and the deflated morale of US troops in Iraq also constitute an important reason for the rapid rise in the figure of casualty of US troops. It should be noted here, not only the figure of casualty of US troops in Iraq is on the increase, the situation of US troops in Afghanistan is worse than before, casualty also assumes a trend of rapid rise.

In order to persuade and attract youths to join the army, the authorities of US troops have really racked their brain to contrive one device after another. In the US troops' enlisting advertisement, there are not only the traditional contents such as "vacation with pay", "subsidized tuition fee" and "global tour", but also are such added luring promises as "free performance of face-lifting". US troops also substantially raise the pay for active soldiers and funds for the families of the deceased and even do not hesitate to relax and lower the standard for joining the army. For instance, it is stipulated that students entering the army officer preparatory school should be at the age under 30, even in individual special year, the highest age should not exceed 40, but now this limit of age has been extended to 42. As long as there are people willing to join the army, even those with a criminal record can also be forgiven. However, the result is not evident and not many people respond. This puts US troop authorities in a fix and an awkward position. So, some experts suggest that 22-year-old Ms Jenna Bush, daughter of US President George W. Bush, should join the army and thus set an example in this respect, so as to ease the enlisting crisis facing US troops. But Ms Jenna Bush hasn't given this an active response, her mother, the "First Lady" only said: Whether Jane was to join the army or not would be decided by herself, we would not talk about this matter.

As a matter of fact, the Iraqi situation and the dangerous environment the US troops are in are only one of the reasons, not counted as the main reason, that causes US youths to step back from the barracks, but it is biased to say that US young people are afraid of death and dare not to serve in the army. Just think during the period of World War II, the situation of casualty of US troops was much worse than what it is now in Iraq and Afghanistan, but at that time US youths vied with one another to join the army and directly faced the battlefield. Then, what is the real main reason that makes US youth unwilling to join the army? It is their view on the war. It can be said that their view on and understanding of the Iraq war as well as on US troops' current mission have undergone great changes. The US general public including youths increasingly take a suspicious attitude toward the "justness" of the war launched by the United States. The so-called weapons of massive destruction in Iraqi possession as asserted by US authorities at that time have not yet been discovered to date, when will the Iraqi situation become stable seems to be far away, US troops in Iraq cannot absolve themselves from the quagmire in which they are deeply bogged down. How many people want to risk their lives to join the camp with an uncertain future? The figure of US casualty will continue to rise as along as the warfare in Iraq does not stop. As long as the doubt and puzzle in the hearts of US general public, particularly US youth, are not solved, their identification and confidence in US troops will further decline. It really deserves the United States to give thought to the rise and fall that have emerged and will continue to develop.

By People's Daily Online