Empty Spaces. 4454 Dead in Iraq.

May 27, 2011

Tags: Death
Posted in: Democracy, Iraq, Military

We honor them this Memorial Day not by sending more of their brothers and sisters to die. Do the dead lack company?

Since the invasion of 2003, 4454 Americans died in Iraq. How many is that? I decided to show myself, typing one X for each of them.

It did not take that long– a soldier hit in a major vessel can bleed out in only a few minutes– one key after another. Joshua, Jacob, Rahim, Carol, Towana, Richard, a couple of Peters, another with the same name as my own military-age child. Too many took their own lives, but just an X below nonetheless because they died of this war same as those who died in it.

Pick one X and think about him. Eleven died in April alone. Alone. Two more in May.

For every X is a space, 4454 of them too, moms and dads, brothers, friends, girlfriends, dogs, empty spaces.

Type it out yourself, then do what I did, lock yourself in the bathroom and curse.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 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