With all the talk of the election and melting markets, we must not forget what's happening in Iraq. This item was way down on the list of headlines at the BBC:
US helicopter troops die in Iraq
Seven more soldiers won't come home to their families. Each one more valuable than anything in your 401(k)
We learn from the BBC this morning (mourning) that US helicopter troops die in Iraq.
A US military helicopter has crashed in southern Iraq, killing seven US soldiers, the military has said.
The CH-47 Chinook helicopter made a "hard landing" shortly after midnight on Thursday about 96km (60 miles) west of the city of Basra, it said.
It appears not to have been combat related, just troop transport, but why are they (we) still there? We are reminded in this news item that there are still 147,000 troops on the ground in Iraq.
Could this war that has cost so many lives and so much money be one of the tap roots of the economic woes that everyone seems to be lamenting?
As so many of us have said, support the troops: bring them home!
But look: a glimmer of hope!
Negotiations over the future status of the US troops are underway between Washington and Baghdad.
Just what this means will remain to be seen. Obama, Biden, and the Congress will have a lot of fallout to clean up in short order.
CNN has this story, again, way down on the list of headlines:
Iraq: Seven U.S. soldiers killed in chopper crash
Officials have not determined the cause of the crash, but do not suspect hostile activity.
"Based on our initial reports, it is accurate to characterize this as an accident," said Maj. John Hall, a U.S. military spokesman.
What more can be said? I am full of sorrow for this real loss, not the nosediving value of paper money.