A roadside bombing Saturday killed three U.S. soldiers about 12 miles north of Baghdad. Now, 500 American lives have been lost in an ill-advised, arrogant campaign. 500.
What's more, three more deaths won't change a damn thing. Read, if you'd like, the apalling machine-like attitude with which the DOD treats the continuing deaths. Sure, each soldier is entitled to full military burial honors, but THEY DIDN'T NEED TO DIE.
Nothing in the course of this war needed to happen. Outright lies, sly insinuations and heavy-handed manipulation of the facts led the United States into this mess. "Mission Accomplished," "Shock and Awe," and "Major Combat" are all a load of bull. It was the campaign of "Bring 'Em On" and "We Got Him," played out with child-like detachment by a child-like president who sees fit to treat the American people as children.
500.
There's no reason that riled me up moreso than 497 or any other figure, other than the 99 cent/odomoter theory. People take notice of big, fat round numbers. Take notice, please. Please turn the reins of this country over to somebody else - somebody remotely qualified - in November. By then it'll be 1,000, or 999.