The Question?

We've been worried about our young Iraqi woman who blogs as Riverbend from inside Iraq. She has been a source for truth during this embarrassment of a war mess for America and a tragedy of biblical proportions for her own country. When she failed to post for several months, several of us were worried that she had become one of the numbers hidden from us by the Bush administration until the Lancet study was published. My joy at finding she's still with us is mitigated by the shame I feel at what my country has done to her life.

But she is alive and she does have the courage to ask a question that we have not the courage to pursue in our own country:

"...getting reliable numbers from the Ministry of Health or any other official Iraqi institution, that's about as probable as getting a coherent, grammatically correct sentence from George Bush...


...The latest horror is the study published in the Lancet Journal concluding that over 600,000 Iraqis have been killed since the war. Reading about it left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it sounded like a reasonable figure. It wasn't at all surprising. On the other hand, I so wanted it to be wrong. But... who to believe? Who to believe....? American politicians... or highly reputable scientists using a reliable scientific survey technique? ...


Everyone knows the 'official numbers' about Iraqi deaths as a direct result of the war and occupation are far less than reality (yes- even you war hawks know this, in your minuscule heart of hearts). This latest report is probably closer to the truth than anything that's been published yet. And what about American military deaths? When will someone do a study on the actual number of those? If the Bush administration is lying so vehemently about the number of dead Iraqis, one can only imagine the extent of lying about dead Americans… "

River Bend

Why is it against the law for us to even take a picture of a flag covered casket? Why do we stand for this? Why did we allow George Bush to sign a law allowing him to take over our state militias? How many of our children have died?

How many more will we sacrifice to the alter of cowardice that is the main pillar of support for the Republican Party?

Peace,

Steve