by James Glaser
December 15, 2005

It has been bothering me ever since I heard the President answer the question about how many Iraqis have been killed in our war over there. George said, "How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war? I would say, 30,000 more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis. We've lost about 2,140 of our own troops."

George just came out and gave that answer, with no remorse, sadness, or sympathy. I guess the thing that got to me is that this is George Bush's war, and even though he feels that the war is just, and that we had to attack Iraq, still 30,000 people getting killed because of a decision you made, should weigh on you a little bit at least.

It isn't just 30,000 deaths, and that number might be conservative, and some organizations say that number should be over 100,000, but what about the number of Iraqis wounded? I still think of that little boy, who had both arms blown off, and the rest of his family killed. He was not the only one in that fix. Our attack on Iraq has destroyed much of that country, and had changed the lives of millions of Iraqis, and Americans.

I would expect that a person who ordered that war would feel some sort of responsibility, even if they thought they were doing the right thing. George could have said that those 30,000 deaths were a real tragedy and that he felt bad for all of those people's loved ones. He could have made some sort of gesture of compassion for those that died and are dying on both sides.

This is George Bush's war. It will go down in history as his war, and the deaths on both sides will go down as part of that history. In years to come the people who lost a loved one or the people on both sides who are maimed for life will think about George Bush and his war. They will remember his cavalier attitude about the number of dead. They will remember that the United States attacked Iraq, that we were the aggressors. They will remember that the war was started on bad information.... some say on lies.

George Bush represents all of us, and even if he is right all the way about this war, tens of thousands of innocent human beings have been killed, and hundreds of thousands have suffered on both sides. As President, Bush should show some compassion for all of those innocent people his war has hurt. There is something wrong with a person, who is responsible (right or wrong) for that much harm, and who can blow all that suffering off, like all those people are just numbers.