"War does not determine who is right - only who is left."-Bertrand Russell

Does anyone remember that there are more than 150,000 American troops currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan? Are the daily movements and utterances of Senators Obama, Clinton, and McCain so important that those who report the news cannot afford to spend a passing moment to mention those who are fighting in this ridiculous war? To date, 4,272 men and women have died in Iraq and Afghanistan (those serving in Afghanistan, who are closer to Osama bin Laden than those in Iraq, should not be relegated to second-class status) and more than 29,000 have been wounded. Since Monday, nine U.S. soldiers have been killed and three more wounded in three separate attacks in Iraq. At least the violence is down, right? Wars are like most things in life, they ebb and flow over time but never go away. When this war is over, it will continue on in the psyche of those that served, whether through mental anguish or physical handicaps. The news agencies have decided that electioneering is what consumers want, thus the sacrifice of these tens of thousands of Americans is secondary. I consume a lot of what these entities dole out and cannot recall more than a passing reference to these attacks over the last four days. Not enough carnage for those on left? Afraid that a mention of these incidents will hurt the purported lily-white image of a post-"surge" Iraq for those on the right? It was not so long ago that right-wing commentators would deride those on the left for focusing on every attack and every casualty, claiming this reporting was an attempt to undermine the troops and American support for an already unpopular war. Has the left been scared off or is the coverage of the Obama-Clinton War of 2008 that much more important?

While I am vehemently opposed to the Iraq War and believe that the next president, whoever he or she might be, should take immediate steps upon being inaugurated to fix the problems the Bush administration will inevitably leave behind and pull all troops out of the Middle East, those troops, many of who did not ask or want to go to Iraq, deserve better from media among all parts of the ideological prism. They are more than merely pawns in a disreputable game of chess played by politicians in Washington who seem to possess the capacity to think of nothing more than their legacy or what their next gig might be. This war should not have taken place and the time has come to put an end to it. Let no more brave American men and women die in vain like their grandfathers and fathers did a generation earlier in another foolish war that went on far too long. It is the job of the news media to report the news and since when is someone dying for their country not newsworthy? A few weeks ago, my mother asked me, "What are they dying for?" I still can't answer her...

*Credit to Photo-Reports for the photo.