Monday, 03.24.08
Iraq 4,000
John Moore/Getty Images
Other, more stringent counts that don't include casualties incurred by contractors haven't yet quite reached that milestone, a reminder perhaps of the fundamentally arbitrary nature of such signifiers. Still, symbols matter. A Pew survey released on March 12 revealed that the quantity of news coverage dedicated to the war has been in decline, and during the same period the number of Americans underestimating the death toll has gone up.
Insofar as the passing of the 4,000 mark reminds Americans of how costly the war has been, the milestone might undo some of the surge's (limited) success at shoring up public support for the war effort. Officially, of course, nobody in Washington will change their mind, and the costs already sunk in Iraq, though they inevitably bear on the public mind, have little direct relevance to forward-looking policy there.
Still, the approach of a round number is a striking reminder that the costs of invading Iraq have been far higher than the costs of 9/11. Phrased provocatively, George W. Bush has gotten many more Americans killed in the last seven years than has Osama bin Laden. Or perhaps more aptly, bin Laden did his worst damage indirectly, by pushing the country into a panicky mood in which it was prepared to make major errors. It's a mistake one hopes the country won't make again, through as of yet there's been precious little accountability for those in the political system or the media who helped send 4,000 young Americans and counting to their deaths in Iraq.
Positively surrealThe most renowned reporter in Iraq, John F. Burns, looks back at five years of war. |
A teachable momentJules Crittenden looks back at the war and its lessons. |
The cost of warABC News reports on Dick Cheney's thoughts on 4,000 dead in Iraq. |
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The task for Americans now is to prevent Bush and Cheney from lying and pressuring the US into a war with Iran, which will create disaster that will make Iraq seem like a boy Scout outing. Bush's recent contradiction of the intelligence community's finding on the non-existent Iranian nuclear (nuk-u- lar as he'd have it) shows the man can out-do Hillary in lying, and possibly indicates mental instability.
And we still have time to impeach this war criminal.
Posted by denis | March 26, 2008 8:28 AM