Chicago Tribune editorial: THE HUMAN SACRIFICE (2000 dead in Iraq)

[Martin Eden]

The numbers command us to pause and pay attention, remind us to consider the true meaning of such words as duty, heroism and sacrifice. On Tuesday, the 2,000th U.S. military death in the 2 1/2-year Iraq war was recorded.
--snip--
There have been setbacks on the path to building a democratic Iraq. But there have been great successes as the country emerges from the shadow of Saddam Hussein, forges a government and creates a society under a constitution. Despite all the naysayers, that march to democracy continues on schedule. That is nothing short of remarkable.

We know from hard, painful experience, that America's soldiers have fought and died to forge and preserve the nation, spread freedom, combat tyranny. There are cemeteries across the country, and dotted around the world, gardens of stone that tie generations of warriors from the Revolution to Iraq.

Numbers can be broken down and analyzed, turned into bar graphs, used to uncover how and why people died. All of that is necessary to make sure soldiers and civilians are not needlessly sacrificed. Numbers, too, can be used by supporters and opponents of the war to buttress arguments. Certainly, the casualties in other American war efforts have vastly outnumbered those in Iraq.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0510280312oct28,0,5121932.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed

I felt compelled to send a LTTE in response to the sentence in bold:

The Tribune editorial (The Human Sacrifice, October 28) rationalized the 2000 American soldiers killed in Iraq by stating "Despite all the naysayers, that march to democracy continues on schedule." Would this be the original schedule drawn up in March of 2003, or has it been constantly revised as the predicted cakewalk continues to drain our treasury and claim so many lives? Please publish the schedule to which you referred. Even those you characterize as naysayers are very intersted in knowing when our troops will come home in something other than flag-draped coffins.

[Skittles]

1. that is a great response

that is Tribune whoring at its worst