As one of the 80% of African-Americans who thought the war was a bad idea from the get-go and the over 80% who still believe we should not have gone there and should get out, it’s painful to talk about the war at this point. I have strong feelings about the traditional media’s overall failure to expose fully the horror of the Iraq War — the deaths, the errors, the lies, the crimes, the waste — all of which should be seen as impeachment-worthy. Check out Healthy Bag of Politics (one of our frequent commenters) for more on the media’s abdication and what often appears to be an overall cavalier attitude towards the war and the real issues facing Americans today.

What might $500 billion over 5 years have done for America’s real problems with crumbling infrastructure, inadequate educational systems, injust and inefficient healthcare “system”?

This CNN poll that 71% of Americans are making a connection between the ballooning war spending and the sinking economy re-assures me that as a nation, we are ready to act like grown people instead of bullies flailing their fists indiscriminately.

The worst for me is that we are so very good at counting American lives lost, yet we speak as a country (in the media at least) quite rarely about Iraqis’ lives lost or Iraqis displaced from their homes. That says something unfortunate about us as a country and about our media’s preoccupations. It’s time that Americans take full stock of the war — not just it’s impact on us, but its impact on others as well. Iraq Body Count estimates over 80,000 Iraqis have been killed since the war began. Wow. Those are the ones they can document. Is there anything left to gain in Iraq or is there just more to lose?

Lay it on the line though — what do you think?

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