Progress Update

The month of April has closed out in Iraq. 103 U.S. troops died there in April, only the fifth time that the monthly death toll has exceeded 100 since the war began. 53% more Americans died in Iraq during the first four months of 2007 than died their in the first quarter of 2006.

103 dead young men and women is more than three times the number of Americans who died on the campus of Virginia Tech in April. I don't recall anyone showing us pictures of the dead troops on the nightly news or on the front pages of newspapers outside their home towns. No one ordered the flags to be flown at half-staff for them. For some reason, we pay more attention to dead victims than dead heroes.

Isn't 3,350 dead American troops enough? If not, how many will be enough? If it's enough, why will the next one die? Sadly, the next one has probably already died; it just hasn't been announced yet.

The beat goes on. Why?

George Bush intends to keep us in Iraq through the remainder of his presidency. What will the toll be a year from now? What will it be 21 months from now when he's back to being just the Brush Cutter-in-Chief in Crawford, Texas?