As an American, I say this: we, as a rule, tend to be a pretty oblivious bunch.
Unless it pertains to a celebrity or contains partial nudity, or both, it takes quite a bit to draw the Average American out of his or her self-centered stupor. This can be applied to most anything in Americans' day-to day lives. Take, for example, Global Warming. Because it is a gradually increasing crisis, Americans tend not to notice or care about the science behind the problem. Now, if concentrated UV rays were cooking people on the streets, that'd be another story.
Unfortunately, this same attitude is applied to the daily dead and wounded coming out of Iraq. The numbers are not large enough for Americans to take notice.
Until now.
16 soldiers killed in one day, in one attack. What's tragic is that 361 went before these with hardly a second thought from the American public-at-large.
It's sad and disheartening that it takes a big event, such as this one, to wake the public's attention to a problem. Witness 9/11. Much like that tragedy, maybe we've seen the turning-point, but still...361 daily reminders went unheeded before now. 361 reasons we should have taken note of.
I'm proud to be an American, but I'm not proud of America's obliviousness to all but the most in-your-face of messages.