THE NOT-SO-SMALL PRICE OF IRAQ

[unhappycamper]

THE NOT-SO-SMALL PRICE OF IRAQ
By DANTE ZAPPALA
Posted on Mon, Oct. 8, 2007


UNTIL RECENTLY, I thought America agreed that the death of over 3,800 troops in Iraq is a tremendous loss to this country.

My brother, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, is just one in that number. He was a soldier in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, and was killed in an explosion in Baghdad on April 26, 2004.

Sherwood, like other fallen heroes, was a leader in his community, a vital link in the fabric that binds us as Americans. His son, growing into a young man, has the loss etched into his long, penetrating stares. Who could look at him and say his father's sacrifice was, in actuality, not a large one?

A chorus of war enthusiasts is giving it a shot. House GOP leader John Boehner said it best when asked recently about the monetary and human price tag of the war. He categorized these costs as a "small price to pay."

The death and dismemberment in Iraq is being spun as the pro-war lobby tries to shore up support for more blank checks from Congress. Pay no attention to the devastation behind the curtain, they tell us.

Of course, anyone who's lost a relative, anyone caring for a wounded vet, anyone whose marriage has been destroyed, anyone with skin in the game will tell you that the cost of war is, indeed, great. That was spelled out again for me when we visited my brother's grave. It would have been his 34th birthday. He's still young, I'm reminded.


Rest of article at: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20071008_THE_NOT-SO-SMALL_PRICE_OF_IRAQ.html