Death Toll Hits 4000

The American death toll in Iraq has officially exceeded 4,000 deaths as of today. Let's not even try to calculate the number of injured and psychologically damaged. The fact that I have been protesting this war since its start in 2003 (back when I was the vast minority, back when everyone though I was a crazy anti-patriot, back when I knew I was right no matter what everyone said) should be enough to make the point that I am simply disgusted. I've been against this war before I even knew Chris was going to have to go fight in it (twice!).

Let me back up. I've always been politically active. As it so happens, my views lean way far to the political left. But regardless of which way I lean, I've always felt that the only way you can change things and the only way you have the right to complain about things not changing, is if you get off your ass and get informed. Then you get out and vote. On that note, I've been against President Bush since day one. When he "won" the election in 2000, I was outraged. I knew then and there that this was going to get ugly. In 2004, I was in TN for the election (Chris was stationed there with the army). My political crusade leapt to new heights, as this was after Chris served one deployment to Iraq and it seemed likely that he would serve another (which he did). I felt that being in TN meant that I had to try to make a difference. I protested, campaigned, yelled, screamed, went completely off the wall trying to get people down there to see things from my point of view. I'm a New Yorker with a husband in the military and I AM AGAINST THIS WAR!! WE are against it. We don't want Bush winning!!
But to no avail. I actually had the following conversation with a nurse at the hospital I worked at.
Nurse: "Can you believe John Kerry? What an idiot."
Me: "I fully intend to vote for John Kerry and I'd like to tell you why you should too."
Nurse: "No way. I won't vote for anyone as long as they support gay marriage and abortion. I believe in voting with the Christians."
Me: "I don't think war is a very Christian ideal, is it?"
Nurse: "I don't care about all that. God supports Bush because he's a real Christian. Anyone who supports gays isn't a Christian."

"I don't care about all that," she says. Oh you know, that little WAR going on. Pish posh! There are gays trying to get married! How can you sleep at night!?!
Yes, because as I recall in the New Testament, Jesus preached things like "intolerance" and "war-mongering" all the time. How silly of me to forget.

So, in 2004, this is what we were dealing with. And this was not unlike many conversations I had with people down in TN. They would have preferred that thousands of innocent people die in a senseless war than to let two guys live happily ever after. When the election was called in favor of Bush, I was at work and I literally burst into tears. Besides the fact that I knew that now Chris would most definitely be going back to Iraq, I knew this country was headed for some dark dark times.

Hate to say I told you so.

I sit here today reading article after article about the death toll in Iraq. The part that really gets to me is this. Bush sits there pleading for us not to "allow these men to have died in vain." What he is trying to say is, if you don't support my war, then you're letting these men die for nothing. If you don't keep this war going, then you're telling these men they aren't worth a thing. But you're forgetting something, Mr. President. YOU let them die. We just wanted to bring them home. YOU let them die trying desperately to believe in a war that had no merit, just so they could deal with what they were being forced to do every day. That blood is certainly not on OUR hands. How dare he make a statement like that, stating that these men and women are meaningless unless his "grand vision" is achieved. It makes me sick.

Let's not let this continue any longer than it already has.
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