by Lucinda Marshall

Saddened and angry though we may be by the deaths of over 2,000 U.S. military personnel, we need to look at this milestone in context. As much as the Pentagon would just as soon not own up to losing 2,000 of its boots on the ground, it beats the heck out of having to own up to the real loses. Because what that number does not include is the more than 15,000 who have been wounded. It doesn't count the many more who are coming home with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and health problems due to exposure to our own chemical weaponry. And it certainly doesn't include the tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have been killed. Nonetheless, the antiwar movement chose to make this milestone a focus of nationwide vigils and the notion that this was a media moment to run with in and of itself bears some serious examination...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov05/Marshall1106.htm