Christmas Milestone

GWB's choice to invade Iraq while falsely citing a connection with the 9/11 attacks, has now resulted in more American deaths that the terrorist plane crashes. Think Progress says:

More U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq than the number of people killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks. At least 2,977 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq, and the 9/11 milestone came on Christmas.

How, exactly, is this making things better...? Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, untold suffering, the country in chaos, no end in sight... Heck of a job, Bushie!

Driftglass has this to say:

We just keep passing these terrible milestones.

500 dead.

1,000 dead.

2,000.

Longer than Korea.

Longer that the American Civil War.

Longer that WWII.

And now this. Of course since the conquest and occupation of Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11, passing this particular number should have no intrinsically tragic value greater or less than any other, but it does.

And as these markers flicker past us in the gloom, they reflect enough gray light to clearly show that we are on a steepening descent. Running downward so fast that soon our toes will barely touch the ground, and we will no longer be able to call it anything but falling.

Into deeper darkness we plunge, and as we go down the man welded inside the bulletproof bubble with the smirk and the room temperature IQ and the nuclear launch codes says over and over again that all is well, that God personally acts through him, and although he is the elected representative of the American people he now mysteriously asserts that some Secret Protocol buried within that job description and known only to him says he no longer has to listen to anyone about anything.

Ever.

And his media minions with their vinyl hair and button eyes continue to marinade in their fascist warporn fantasies and smile and smile and nod and nod.

Sorry, but it doesn’t feel like Christmas right now.