Well this is interesting!

Does God look after the "loved ones" in priority order, according to how many incoming prayers he logs for each? Do prayers score higher where they are from friends and relatives than when they are offered up by people who don't know from Adam the people they're praying for? Are the prayers judged on content at all, or is it an entirely quantitative process?

If God does indeed intervene in this way, then the whole process is vomit-inducing. What about the poor sod sent into action, Christian to his fingernails (or Hindu, or Buddhist or whatever it takes) but whose friends and entire family have renounced their faiths and enter no prayers at all?

It might be worth some university looking at coalition casualties and fatalities and comparing the prayers offered up for them with the prayers offered for those who came through unscathed. There could be lessons to be drawn.

Meanwhile Claymore can rejoice that US troops are still getting dropped (or was it only dead ragheads that got him excited?). Only a trickle, but we're talking about a nation that based its foreign policy for several years on the loss of a mere 18 troops!