Inversely, by month since March, 2003, 50 ,96, 49, 85, 54, 78, 80, 52, 36, 58, 107, 72, 137, 72, 137, 63, 80, 66, 54, 42, 80, 135, 52, 20, 47, 40, 82, 44, 31, 35, 48, 30, 37, 74, 65...for a total of
2079 deaths of American service men and women in Iraq. In the same time span, the British have lost
200 dead...Australia, Bulgaria, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Thailand, and Ukraine collectively have lost an additional
103 dead. Add to these totals the
8357 Americans who have been wounded but returned to duty, the 7347 American who have been wounded (too severely) to return to duty, and all the innocent Iraqis, dead or maimed causes one to pause, to take stock in the consequences of our country's actions and wonder if there is a better way to secure our safety.
The compassionate, the thinking person will reflect on the harm done and demand that as a country, we do better.
Unfortunately, as we reflect and explore ways to overcome this tragedy, the mindless beat goes on, an accelerating number of wounded are returned to this country for rehabilitation, the morgue at Dover is doing more business than should be accepted by Americans, Taps is played all too often...families mourn.
While the troops and their families suffer the consequences of this misguided war, the Bush Administration and its apologists are concerned about their image...The Fix, Chris Cillizza, November 16, 2005
Seeking to counter increasingly hot rhetoric from congressional Democrats over the war in Iraq, Republicans have launched a public relations effort aimed at reclaiming the issue.
The President's popularity, his status in the polls, his image...is this what this country is about?