Looking this war in the face proves difficult when the press itself won't even put in an appearance.

Baghdad E.R. doctors examine a child who was fatally wounded in an aerial bombing attack.

Photo: David Leeson/The Dallas Morning News

"History," Hegel said, "is a slaughterhouse." And war is how the slaughter is carried out.

If we believe that the present war in Iraq is just and necessary, why do we shrink from looking at the damage it wreaks? Why does the government that ordered the war and hails it as an instrument of good then ask us to respect those who died in the cause by not describing and depicting how they died? And why, in response, have newspapers gone along with Washington and grown timid about showing photos of the killing and maiming? What kind of honor does this bestow on those who are sent to fight in the nation's name?

The Iraq war inspires these questions.

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Informant: Charles Bremer