Old Retired Guy Blog

March 25, 2008

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5 and 4000

Two horrible milestones were reached this week:

• It's the 5th Anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, and
• The number of American soldiers killed has reached 4000. 

This war has gone on longer than the American Civil War or our involvement in World War I or World War II.  The number of American soldiers killed in this travesty spawned by the arrogance of the George W. Bush administration exceeds the number killed in the World Trade Center attacks.  As those who really care know, however, Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no interactions with Al Queda.  This foolish "war on terror" is being fought in a country that was not involved at all in the terror that we are supposedly seeking to contain.  (Do you recall that most of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis?  Where is Osama bin Laden?)  After 5 years of war Iraq is now a rich breeding ground for terrorists.  We have created more terrorists than we have killed or controlled.  President Bush continues to tell us that the surge is working, just like he told us that his original war plan was working. 

If you watch the News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS you know how they silently show the photos and names of the latest American casualties.  It's so sad to see the faces of these young Americans who have died in vain for such a foolish undertaking.  One recent quiet review invoked the following thoughts.

Questions for the 4000

I see your faces –
     Some are smiling,
     Some are not.
What were you thinking? What were you dreaming?
Did you know that I would see you
Tonight – in silence – on my TV screen?

I see your faces –
     Some are women,
     Some are men.
How are your families? How are your friends?
Did you know that soon we would be
Grieving – in silence – in our living rooms?

I see your faces –
     Some are eighteen,
     Some are older.
Why were you chosen? Why did you die?
Did you know you soon would leave us
Wondering – in silence – when will this war end?

Here's the latest death toll.  Before I could even finish this entry it had already increased.

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