C Bomb Exports Permanently Banned!‏

I received this yesterday, on the 11th, from the Friends Committee on National Legislation and was going to post it around but couldn't get the links to load, they're fine now, So Please Use Them!

A live, U.S-made M77 cluster submunition in a citrus orchard in Southern Lebanon--one of an estimated 4 million dropped in 2006.
President Obama signed a law yesterday, March 11 2009, that will make permanent a ban on nearly all cluster bomb exports from the United States. Congress included the export ban in an omnibus budget bill that passed the Senate last night. This provision will move the U.S. one step closer to the position of the nearly 100 nations--including our closest NATO allies--that signed a treaty banning cluster munitions in December.

The legislation states that cluster munitions can only be exported if they leave behind less than one percent of their submunitions as duds, and if the receiving country agrees that cluster munitions "will not be used where civilians are known to be present." Only a very tiny fraction of the cluster munitions in the U.S. arsenal meet the one percent standard. This export ban was first enacted in a similar budget bill in December 2007, but that law mandated it for only one year.

U.S.-exported cluster bombs were most recently used by Israel in Southern Lebanon, where dud rates were reportedly as high as 40 percent; hundreds of civilians and deminers have been killed or maimed since the fighting ended in 2006.

Now Congress needs to take the next step and ban U.S. use of these deadly weapons. Nearly one in four senators have already cosponsored the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S. 416), introduced one month ago, which would stop the military from using virtually all of the cluster bombs in its vast arsenal by applying this same one percent standard to U.S. use. Do your senators support this bill? If not, urge them to co-sponsor today. If it's unacceptable to export high dud-rate cluster bombs, then it's unacceptable to use them. Growing Senate support for S. 416 will show President Obama that the U.S. public stands with the rest of the world in supporting a ban on cluster bombs.

As 17 year old Soraj Ghulam Habib from Herat, Afghanistan, who lost both legs to a U.S. cluster submunition in 2001 observes, "You'd ban them for sure, if you had them here." Click here to see what a cluster bomb would do to your neighborhood.

The link directly above, what they would do if dropped in your neighborhood, gives you a great description, after typing in just your address and zip, gives you a birdseye overview of a map with the damage that takes place and the spread of the unexploded!

Please sign on to send your reps the message as well!!

Below is an article about the passing and signing and more.

Cluster Bomb Exports Curbed by New U.S. Law

The United States banned exports of most kinds of controversial cluster bombs under spending legislation signed this week by U.S. President Barack Obama, two U.S. Senators said March 12.

The new restrictions, which make permanent a one-year ban first enacted in December 2007, were part of a $410-billion spending plan that lawmakers passed March 10 and Obama signed March 11.

Dropped from warplanes or fired from artillery guns, cluster bombs explode in mid-air to randomly scatter hundreds of bomblets, which can be just eight centimeters (three inches) in size.

Many bomblets fail to explode, littering war zones with de facto landmines that can kill and maim long after a conflict ends.

Once Again America, You Failed and Are Failing!!!

Not to long ago and most certainly not a 'once upon a time', though the response by the country would leave one to think some were telling fairy tales because the rest paid little attention, a group of soldiers were returning from an occupation of a destroyed small country a half a world away.

As we returned many started developing a wide variety of ailments, physical and mental, well maybe a few of the rest were listening about the mental issues for they were telling my brothers it was all in their heads.

Just one of the issues brought out by the returning soldiers was about the use of Chemical Spraying - Defoliants to clear jungle areas and areas on either side of the rivers, killing all the tree's and foliage leaving bare land. Many of the soldiers/sailors living in or near or carrying out patrols through these ares started developing ailments they didn't have before, while still In Country or once returned home. Over the years they started developing different and sometimes fatal ailments. All this time they were crying out for the Public to pay Attention after they tried fighting the VA and Government, seeking Help from the Country they Served, to little avail. A few heard and came forward to help in the new battles, fought on these soils, but they were to few. All the time the DoD and Government were saying that the Defoliants Weren't Poison or Gave Harm to the Human Body. Many of my brothers are now Dead from 'Agent Orange' and other Defoliants Sprayed in that conflict. And today The Vietnamese Are Still Suffering the Effects from the still contaminated land of their country and trying to get compensation from those that contaminated it, Us!

Many are still fighting to get the recognition of what we did while in an occupation, to our own and to those occupied!

Some seventeen years ago we sent another huge military force into another war a half a world away, this conflict didn't last long, the buildup and withdrawal to it did, and the worries about many things, like chemical and biological warfare being used against this force led to decisions that may have once again caused great harm to our soldiers, as well as new style ordinance developed since that last occupation, serving a country that this time was going to give it's soldiers a 'Patriotic Recognition', forget the fact that the country still hadn't come to terms with the last, this time, in words at least, it would praise it's Military Soldiers and not Scorn or Ignore Them.

Well that lasted about as long as it took for many of these soldiers to start asking why they were developing a wide range of physical ailments, a name was given 'Gulf War Syndrome' and once again the VA and Government started the campaign of denial, without much investigation or research, that nothing was really wrong with these soldiers, numbers growing, and it was all in their heads. That gave the green light to the society to just stop paying attention. Many of us older vets, from WWII to that present, along with long time activists and some others, started trying to help in the fight being waged by our newer brothers and sisters and their families, to little avail.

But No Longer, America, The Proof Is Now Public, And The Cries For Help Are Angry Voices, Anger For Those Who Have Already Perished, Anger For Those Suffering And Their Families, Anger For Those who Managed To Get Medical Help, On Their Own, That Helped Them But Not Their Brothers and Sisters! It's Way Past Time America That You Stood Up And Helped Those That Serve You! Don't Let Another Generation Of Those Who Serve and Sacrifice For You Be Hidden Out Of Site and Your Minds!

Gulf War Syndrom/Illness Is Real

New Federal Report Says

An extensive federal report released Monday concludes that roughly one in four of the 697,000 U.S. veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War suffer from Gulf War illness.

CNN Video Report

The Gulf War Syndrom Report

RAC Report This link takes you to the site page with the two below.

RAC-GWVI media release, Nov. 17, 2008 DOC

Full report of RAC-GWVI -- Nov. 17, 2008 PDF {The PDF is abit over 6MB download}

The PBS News Hour, on tuesday the 18th of November 08, held a discussion on the recently released report.

PBS News Hour: Gulf War Syndrome

Report Concludes Gulf War Syndrome Is Legitimate Illness - Transcript

Download MP3 to just Listen

A report released Monday revealed that the mysterious illness affecting veterans exposed to toxins during the 1991 Gulf War is real, making it easier for military personnel to seek federal aid. Research advisory committee chairman James Binns details the findings.

It has been 17 years since the first Gulf War ended. A new report now finds that at least one in four veterans of that conflict have been suffering ever since.

Congress started paying attention some 10 to 11 years after the conflict.

In 2002, a congressionally mandated panel set out to get to the bottom of conflicting reports about the veterans' health complaints. Its 450-page report concludes that Gulf War illness, memory loss, digestive and neurological problems, fatigue and pain is a real disease.

More than 175,000 veterans of the war were affected, but not effectively treated.

The two most likely causes: drugs administered to guard against nerve agents and pesticides used in the battlefield.

For a closer look at what these findings mean, we turn to James Binns, the chairman of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses.

JAMES BINNS: Well, the Gulf War had its own set of unique exposures. As Vietnam veterans were exposed to Agent Orange, so Gulf War veterans were exposed to a number of toxic exposures that were unique to that war.

JAMES BINNS: Now, that's what's -- I heard one of the veterans yesterday call this a bittersweet moment for them, because in large measure all of this work simply confirms what they know, that they are ill and have been for 17 years.

And it's true what you say that actually very little of the research that has been done up to date has been oriented toward treatments, and none of it has found effective treatments.

Here are a few opinion pieces that followed the release of the report.

Our view: Gulf War illness

Government finally admits vets suffer from a real condition

The official U.S. government response to claims of Gulf War illness has run from skepticism to outright denial.

With one in four of the 697,000 Gulf War vets reporting some level of the same symptoms, the lights should have gone on a long time ago in the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

So now veterans have rigorous support for what they have contended all along -- it's not just in our heads, we're not making it up. We're sick.

Thousands of our Gulf War vets are sick. Let's help them.

BOTTOM LINE: Gulf War illness is real, and few vets who suffer the disease are getting better. It's past time for serious work on a cure.

VCS Urges Research into Gulf War Exposures and Gulf War Illness Treatments

November 17, 2008, Washington, DC

Veterans for Common Sense released the following statement:

Veterans for Common Sense is pleased with the thorough report prepared by the RAC. We commend the veterans and scientists who have worked for the last six years reviewing the work on Gulf War illnesses conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD). The RAC report repudiates years of delays and denials caused by a group of VA and DoD staff who ignored the eyewitness accounts of veterans and scientific research.

VCS believes action is needed today to make sure the RAC’s recommendations are implemented soon.

VCS urges Congress to fund new research recommended by the RAC into why up to 210,000 Gulf War veterans are ill as well as fund research into desperately needed medical treatments for our veterans.

VCS also urges top VA officials to review the conduct of VA Central Office staff who blocked scientific research into toxic exposures, especially VA's contracts with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that improperly excluded animal studies from scientific review. The VA Central Office staff who needlessly delayed research, treatment, and disability benefits for hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans should be held accountable for their actions.

The facts presented by the RAC reveal how a handful of key VA and DoD officials failed to assist Gulf War veterans by clinging to the discredited myth that Gulf War illnesses were only related to stress for nearly 17 years. The DoD neglected to consider the many toxic exposures as potential causes of Gulf War illnesses, even after Gulf War veterans and scientists raised these as serious possibilities.

We look forward to working with Chairman Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) as they conduct oversight into VA’s failure to enter into proper contracts with IOM that may have blocked access to healthcare and disability benefits for hundreds of thousands of ill and disabled Gulf War veterans.

VCS thanks Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Representative Chris Shays (R-CT), and former Representative Lane Evans (D-IL) for their diligent leadership in passing the landmark “Persian Gulf Veterans Act of 1998” that created the RAC.

Panel: Gulf War vet health research lacking

Even as possibly hundreds of thousands of veterans suffer from a collection of symptoms commonly called Gulf War illness, the government has done too little to find treatments for their health problems nearly two decades after the war ended, a panel commissioned by Congress said.

The advisory panel of medical experts and veterans wants at least $60 million spent annually for research, calling it a “national obligation,” according to its report, obtained by The Associated Press.

Gulf War troops poisoned, neglected

A new government study backs up veterans of the 1991 Gulf War who said they were literally, and physically, sickened during their service there. The American people have an obligation to help them

One of the most dangerous threats to the health of American troops in combat might be the United States government. That conclusion can reasonably be drawn after a government panel reported that one in four U.S. veterans of the 1991 Gulf War — about 172,000 troops — is ill from exposure to toxic chemicals, most of them administered by the U.S. government.

The two bibliographies below were compiled by FRONTLINE to aid those who want to dig deeper into Gulf War Syndrome. The first shows many of the most informative and compelling websites on the subject. The second contains citations to books, journal articles and other printed materials.

Visit the above link, there's a host of links leading to further information, study, and research!

What will the government do to make veterans with Gulf War syndrome whole?

The question has new urgency in the aftermath of a report, released Monday, concluding that nearly 200,000 soldiers suffer from the syndrome.

The 452-page report is the first to affirm that Gulf War illness is valid and widespread, affecting as many as one-quarter of veterans from the 1990-1991 conflict.

"The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real...and that few veterans have recovered of substantially improved with time," says the comprehensive overview, prepared by the government's Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses.

Now we have once again sent our military into occupation, not one but two, halfway around the world. And with the reports finally coming out these last couple of years, with over site and investigation once again being done by our congress, information coming extensively from, once again, great Investigative Journalism, we are seeing, especially us Vietnam Vets, a repeat of what was experienced years ago. Many of these recent reports read like that from 30 to 40 years back, a not to distant past.

This next link starts on the Gulf War Syndrome in the Press Release and moves into the present conflicts.

American Gulf War Veterans Association

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 8, 2003

The American Gulf War Veterans Association (AGWVA), an independent Gulf War Veterans’ support organization, has long searched for answers to explain why nearly half of the 697,000 Gulf War I Veterans are now ill and why over 200,000 of those servicemen/women have requested disability, but have received no adequate diagnosis or treatment, from either the Department of Defense (DOD), or Veteran’s Affairs. Though there have been over 125 studies done by the government at the cost of over $300,000,000 to the taxpayer, we still have no answers as to what caused so many of our soldiers to become ill. Meanwhile, the suffering veterans are receiving little, if any, medical treatment for this illness. It seems that whenever veterans become ill, the term “mystery illness” seems to be the first and often the only diagnosis that is ever made. Veterans are then left to fend for themselves, sick and unable to work, with little hope of a normal life again.

The AGWVA is now again asking questions, this time, about the newest “mystery illness” to hit the military. After being pressured by a few independent news reporters who have not permitted this “mystery” to continue unabated, The DOD recently has been forced to announce the “mystery” deaths of Gulf War II soldiers and that at least 100 other men and women have become ill. Again, however, there were no adequate answers, but, only that the “mystery illness” diagnosis had reared its ugly head again. According to a family member of one of the military victims, the DOD recently, has changed its label of the illness and is now calling it “pneumonia” in sharp contrast to what a physician on the scene reported. Due to continuing pressure for sound answers, the DOD was again forced to send an investigative team to Iraq, however the convenient, repeated lack of diagnosis, unfortunately translates into lack of treatment, and lack of compensation for the veteran. The jury is still out, however, if the DOD will be forthcoming with the truth this time.

SNIP Please Read The Rest

The following doesn't look like the 'mystery illness' described in the press release above, but apparently this is another growing problem for the present OIF and OEF soldiers in Theater:

Senior Airman Frances Gavalis tosses unserviceable uniform items into a burn pit at Balad Air Base, Iraq.

The Army Times Site Video

Burn pit at Balad raises health concerns
Tue, Oct 28, 2008
An open-air at the largest U.S. base in Iraq may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis to cancer-causing dioxins, poisons such as arsenic

Senator wants answers on dangers of burn pits
Sun, Nov 9, 2008
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has written to Gen. David Petraeus, the new chief of U.S. Central Command, demanding to be informed about any pending investigations into health problems for troops exp.

Burn pit fallout
Sat, Nov 15, 2008
Disabled American Veterans has issued a call to all service members and veterans who think they may have illnesses related to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq: Contact DAV so they can collect data

Army report shows chemicals at burn pit site
Thursday Nov 20, 2008
A soldier concerned about his tour at Forward Operating Base Hammer near Balad, Iraq, this year sent Military Times a report showing high levels of particulate matter and low levels of manganese, possibly due to materials destroyed in a burn pit.

“The high risk estimate is due to the average (particulate matter) level being at a concentration the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers ‘hazardous,’ and is likely to affect the health of all troops,” wrote Jeffrey Kirkpatrick, director of health risk assessment for the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. “Manganese was also detected above its one-year military exposure guidelines.”

It was sent to the command surgeon general’s office for U.S. Central Command.

And just like what 'Agent Orange' not only did to our soldiers in 'Nam it did to the Citizens of Vietnam, continuing to today, it is and Will Continue to do to the Citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan near where these contaminated garbage pits not only were burned but that contaminated garbage is buried!

We Veterans, who still serve this Country according to our Military Oath and Real Patriotism, and fight against sending our Military into Wars Of Choice by the civilian and military leadership, lost the Battle against the Propaganda of Fixed Intelligence, especially as to invading Iraq, an innocent country and people, but We Won't Lose The Battle As To Care For Our Returning Soldiers, though it's a long battle that shouldn't be!

You may want to visit Mikes webblog {known online as 'testvet'} Military & Veterans: Politics for the deserving, a disabled Veteran, and his personal experiences as to being a 'testvet' and his fighting for not only himself but his brothers and sisters.

And one site to visit often is Larry Scott's VA Watchdog he to has a recent post about the Gulf War I Syndrome Report

For desperate vets, victory, anger over Gulf War Syndrome. Army veteran Randy Saubert takes grandsons Kalev, right, and Ethin to a Colorado Springs park Tuesday. Saubert logged 38,000 miles hauling supplies across the Iraq desert in 1991. Today, he isn't sure what he came into contact with that caused him to develop Lou Gehrig's disease. (photo: Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

"Why did it take so long to listen to the vets and their families? Why have they denied benefits and hurt people and let families fall apart and have soldiers go bankrupt seeking help?"

Once again the Report:

The Gulf War Syndrom Report

RAC Report This link takes you to the site page with the two below.

RAC-GWVI media release, Nov. 17, 2008 DOC

Full report of RAC-GWVI -- Nov. 17, 2008 PDF {The PDF is abit over 6MB download}

Fellow Americans You Failed Too Many Times Before and The Present Occupations Were Supported By The Greater Majority Of You, This Time Make It Right For Those Who Served You and Their Families!!!

I'll just bet All are 'chickenhawk' war supporters/profiteers!

Oklahoma lawmakers object to donated Qurans
Gifts returned to diversity panel; lawmaker says book condones killing

In a letter to colleagues, state Representative Rex Duncan says "most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology." At least 17 other legislators have notified the Governor's Ethnic American Advisory Council that they too will return the gift.

"most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology."

And 'WE' Are Doing What Again, Rex?

Talk To The Pols about The 'Children'...

They won't care, as they've shown already!

Orphans of Iraq


As you watch let your mind, if you have one, wonder to thoughts of what we have given to the children, those that survive, of a small country that did Nothing to us!
And don't give the 'Saddam was a Tyrant' crap, he was, but He Was All Ours, from before we helped place him in Power to his Hanging, if that even was him, remember all the reports of look alikes for his security!
We Have Totally Destroyed The Lives Of The Iraqi's, ESPECIALLY The Children!!

Hope can only come from the People of this planet, certainly not any so called Leaders!!

And we certainly don't need to do the same for another group of people and Children, those of Iran, once again, having done Nothing to Us!!

End of Another Year...

Baghdad Burning

... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...
Friday, December 29, 2006



You know your country is in trouble when:
***The UN has to open a special branch just to keep track of the chaos and bloodshed, UNAMI.
***Abovementioned branch cannot be run from your country.
***The politicians who worked to put your country in this sorry state can no longer be found inside of, or anywhere near, its borders.
***The only thing the US and Iran can agree about is the deteriorating state of your nation.
***An 8-year war and 13-year blockade are looking like the country's 'Golden Years'.
***Your country is purportedly 'selling' 2 million barrels of oil a day, but you are standing in line for 4 hours for black market gasoline for the generator.
***For every 5 hours of no electricity, you get one hour of public electricity and then the government announces it's going to cut back on providing that hour.
***Politicians who supported the war spend tv time debating whether it is 'sectarian bloodshed' or 'civil war'.
***People consider themselves lucky if they can actually identify the corpse of the relative that's been missing for two weeks.

A day in the life of the average Iraqi has been reduced to identifying corpses, avoiding car bombs and attempting to keep track of which family members have been detained, which ones have been exiled and which ones have been abducted.

2006 has been, decidedly, the worst year yet. No- really. The magnitude of this war and occupation is only now hitting the country full force. It's like having a big piece of hard, dry earth you are determined to break apart. You drive in the first stake in the form of an infrastructure damaged with missiles and the newest in arms technology, the first cracks begin to form. Several smaller stakes come in the form of politicians like Chalabi, Al Hakim, Talbani, Pachachi, Allawi and Maliki. The cracks slowly begin to multiply and stretch across the once solid piece of earth, reaching out towards its edges like so many skeletal hands. And you apply pressure. You surround it from all sides and push and pull. Slowly, but surely, it begins coming apart- a chip here, a chunk there.

That is Iraq right now. The Americans have done a fine job of working to break it apart. This last year has nearly everyone convinced that that was the plan right from the start. There were too many blunders for them to actually have been, simply, blunders. The 'mistakes' were too catastrophic. The people the Bush administration chose to support and promote were openly and publicly terrible- from the conman and embezzler Chalabi, to the terrorist Jaffari, to the militia man Maliki. The decisions, like disbanding the Iraqi army, abolishing the original constitution, and allowing militias to take over Iraqi security were too damaging to be anything but intentional.

The question now is, but why? I really have been asking myself that these last few days. What does America possibly gain by damaging Iraq to this extent? I'm certain only raving idiots still believe this war and occupation were about WMD or an actual fear of Saddam.

Al Qaeda? That's laughable. Bush has effectively created more terrorists in Iraq these last 4 years than Osama could have created in 10 different terrorist camps in the distant hills of Afghanistan. Our children now play games of 'sniper' and 'jihadi', pretending that one hit an American soldier between the eyes and this one overturned a Humvee.

This last year especially has been a turning point. Nearly every Iraqi has lost so much. So much. There's no way to describe the loss we've experienced with this war and occupation. There are no words to relay the feelings that come with the knowledge that daily almost 40 corpses are found in different states of decay and mutilation. There is no compensation for the dense, black cloud of fear that hangs over the head of every Iraqi. Fear of things so out of ones hands, it borders on the ridiculous- like whether your name is 'too Sunni' or 'too Shia'. Fear of the larger things- like the Americans in the tank, the police patrolling your area in black bandanas and green banners, and the Iraqi soldiers wearing black masks at the checkpoint.

Again, I can't help but ask myself why this was all done? What was the point of breaking Iraq so that it was beyond repair? Iran seems to be the only gainer. Their presence in Iraq is so well-established, publicly criticizing a cleric or ayatollah verges on suicide. Has the situation gone so beyond America that it is now irretrievable? Or was this a part of the plan all along? My head aches just posing the questions.


What has me most puzzled right now is: why add fuel to the fire? Sunnis and moderate Shia are being chased out of the larger cities in the south and the capital. Baghdad is being torn apart with Shia leaving Sunni areas and Sunnis leaving Shia areas- some under threat and some in fear of attacks. People are being openly shot at check points or in drive by killings… Many colleges have stopped classes. Thousands of Iraqis no longer send their children to school- it's just not safe.


Why make things worse by insisting on Saddam's execution now? Who gains if they hang Saddam? Iran, naturally, but who else? There is a real fear that this execution will be the final blow that will shatter Iraq. Some Sunni and Shia tribes have threatened to arm their members against the Americans if Saddam is executed. Iraqis in general are watching closely to see what happens next, and quietly preparing for the worst.

This is because now, Saddam no longer represents himself or his regime. Through the constant insistence of American war propaganda, Saddam is now representative of all Sunni Arabs (never mind most of his government were Shia). The Americans, through their speeches and news articles and Iraqi Puppets, have made it very clear that they consider him to personify Sunni Arab resistance to the occupation. Basically, with this execution, what the Americans are saying is "Look- Sunni Arabs- this is your man, we all know this. We're hanging him- he symbolizes you." And make no mistake about it, this trial and verdict and execution are 100% American. Some of the actors were Iraqi enough, but the production, direction and montage was pure Hollywood (though low-budget, if you ask me).

That is, of course, why Talbani doesn't want to sign his death penalty- not because the mob man suddenly grew a conscience, but because he doesn't want to be the one who does the hanging- he won't be able to travel far away enough if he does that.

Maliki's government couldn't contain their glee. They announced the ratification of the execution order before the actual court did. A few nights ago, some American news program interviewed Maliki's bureau chief, Basim Al-Hassani who was speaking in accented American English about the upcoming execution like it was a carnival he'd be attending. He sat, looking sleazy and not a little bit ridiculous, his dialogue interspersed with 'gonna', 'gotta' and 'wanna'... Which happens, I suppose, when the only people you mix with are American soldiers.


My only conclusion is that the Americans want to withdraw from Iraq, but would like to leave behind a full-fledged civil war because it wouldn't look good if they withdraw and things actually begin to improve, would it?

Here we come to the end of 2006 and I am sad. Not simply sad for the state of the country, but for the state of our humanity, as Iraqis. We've all lost some of the compassion and civility that I felt made us special four years ago. I take myself as an example. Nearly four years ago, I cringed every time I heard about the death of an American soldier. They were occupiers, but they were humans also and the knowledge that they were being killed in my country gave me sleepless nights. Never mind they crossed oceans to attack the country, I actually felt for them.

Had I not chronicled those feelings of agitation in this very blog, I wouldn't believe them now. Today, they simply represent numbers. 3000 Americans dead over nearly four years? Really? That's the number of dead Iraqis in less than a month. The Americans had families? Too bad. So do we. So do the corpses in the streets and the ones waiting for identification in the morgue.


Is the American soldier that died today in Anbar more important than a cousin I have who was shot last month on the night of his engagement to a woman he's wanted to marry for the last six years? I don't think so.

Just because Americans die in smaller numbers, it doesn't make them more significant, does it?