How many American lives is the moral high ground worth?

This is not a snarky question. It's a real one, and the answer is not cut and dried.

Going into Iraq one-on-one in a ground invasion, instead of bombing the country into glass from fifty thousand feet, has cost a lot of American lives.

A good case can be made that this is a valid tradeoff to preserve what America stands for, that the long-term benefits will pay off. Some people would disagree. I do find people irritating who simultaneously complain about how barbarous we are, while at the same time trumpeting every casualty. These are related issues, which they don't seem to understand. True barbarians would have erased Afghanistan in a single night, without a single American casualty.

Losing information from detainees because we won't treat them at all roughly may also cost American lives.

There's a tradeoff here, too, and I will concede it's not that clear-cut either.

A third case is the Patriot Act. How many lives is it worth to protect our freedom and privacy?

Once more, not something that has an easy answer.

Many people have died throughout our history to defend American values. Many more will do so in the future. We can accept what the Tree of Liberty sometimes needs.

Becoming barbarians for short-term safety does have a price attached to it. Just let's not forget as we take the "high ground" that that has a price, too, and those who see casualties as the primary indicator of this war need to understand that.