Wait wait wait...hold on there.
"I spend every day surrounded by U.S. Army officers, many of whom have already been to Iraq and lost men under their command. If I'm going to advocate the use of force on behalf of national strategic goals, it's reasonable for me to have an idea of how many of my students it would be worth killing in the process -- not to mention how much money taken away from other potential uses, whether that be building strategic nuclear systems for a future confrontation with China, or funding social security privatization."
So having some soldiers killed and money diverted is an iffy proposition for you, but building new nukes for a future war with China is just dandy. Something tells me that if 2,300 soldiers lost is too high a price for you, then going to war and exchanging nukes with China would be totally out of the question. No matter what they did.