Although the internet is probably going to ruin my life sometimes I'm rather grateful for it...

When the Trade Center was attacked newspapers like the New York Times saw how important it was to put a human face on those deaths. To keep the victims from being mere numbers. To show that each life lost mattered to many--the unique value of each person.

I wish we could do that with all these atrocities in the world. It would be harder to be sanguine about the Iraqi civilians (as people keep saying...they are so 'few') when we knew the human cost and had some sense of the individual identity of those killed.


The Iraqi Body Count website doesn't do that. It does say when, who, where. Often not names but just places. I think when people celebrate the 'success' of the war they should consider those who paid the ultimate price. It creeps me out when I see the smiley faces of the policy wonks. They are the faces of people who won at sports. During WWII--even after military successes--did you see this kind of face on anyone?

Link from Daintily