Letter Not Published

Not Published October 2007 (Should have been)

When discussing deaths in Iraq our elected officials and the media talk almost exclusively about US deaths - Iraqi death not usually considered. Sadly, most in this country hold American life as more important and frankly don’t want to know about Iraqi deaths. But a study published in the prestigious medical journal, the Lancet, in July of 2006, estimated excess Iraqi civilian deaths due to the war at that time to be 654,965 – numbers difficult to ignore even by the most bigoted amongst us. Terrorists are twisted hateful souls. The reasons people evolve into terrorists are probably many and complex. But how does allowing the rest of the world to feel we do not consider their lives or even their innocent children’s lives important, help? Hundreds of thousands of innocent souls have died as a result of what we as a country have put into motion in Iraq. You can’t kill all the terrorists, hatred only creates more hatred, and violence only spurs more violence. Ultimately our only real choice is to work to end the root causes of terrorism – and that begins by learning to respect all of human life as our own. Only then can we find peace.