Accounting Error

“I wish that the American people knew more about what is happening with respect to the toll of this war, because I think it's a lot bigger and a lot more troubling than most people know. “ Mark Benjamin, UPI reporter, 2004.

The American count of dead soldiers, turned 2000 the other day, marked by more violence in Iraq and a strange sense of continuity in Washington. Once a war starts, people get used to it. If they didn’t then war would never happen. Alas, we’re not quite there yet.

Our disconnect with the dying people of Iraq is our worst enemy, not some terrorist. This faceless enemy type of propaganda has been going on for centuries; it’s essential to the success of any war, especially an illegal one. In fact, the technology of warfare has taken the human element out of it altogether. We no longer fight on battlefields, hand-to-hand, face-to-face. Consequently, we can’t make a human connection with the so-called enemy.

Perhaps we can connect in financial terms. The running total cost of the Iraq war is over $203 Billion and counting. All that money being syphoned from the U.S. taxpayer faster than you can say, “no new taxes”.

The number of Iraqi dead stands around 30,000 and it’s no longer reported on the 6:30 News. Much like the descriptions of the Vietcong, the other side isn’t human; a mass of aliens out to “get our boys”, [those bastards!] No face on the enemy, means continuous war. Sadly, we’ve grown accustomed to it.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong