"Culture of Life" Not for Iraqis?

Somehow the numbers just don't add up. Call it "collateral damage'' as a euphemism for the fact that we have killed tens of thousands of innocents, including women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan and for what? In the name of what this administration calls a "culture of life?'' The Red Cross estimates that we have killed more than 100,000 Iraqis and if there were only in the beginning a few acting as insurgents and then a year or so later the number rose to 5,000 insurgents and now they say it is maybe at max 20,000, does that mean we have killed 80,000-plus innocents? What the hell are we doing? If your mother, father, child, spouse, friend or loved one were killed as "collateral damage'' by a group or country, would that make you consider joining the fight against that entity? So, have we made the friends and loved ones of tens of thousands of innocents, killed by mistake, our friends or our enemies? Let me see if I got this right: It's a "culture of life'' that energizes all these Bush supporters when it comes to Terri Schiavo, and when it comes to all those innocent sentient humans killed in Iraq, it's the price of cheap gasoline or hypocrisy? Why are we in this handbasket and where are we going?

Larry Angel

Mullica Township

Letter published in Press of Atlantic City, July 17, 2005

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/columns/071705LETTERSJULY17.cfm