Death All Around

In a speech given in Philadelphia today, Bush said an estimated 30,000 Iraqis have been killed since the beginning of the war. After hearing this number, I began contextualizing this.

Killed in Iraq since March 2003...
2146 U.S. Soldiers (according to the DoD)
30,000 Iraqis (according to Bush'’s estimate)

This means that .11% of the Iraqi population has been killed over the past 2 and a half years. Proportionally, if .11% of the US population were to be killed 340, 251 would be dead. What would our response be then? Would we wake up from our mindlessness that allows this to continue? How many more must die in Iraq?

Of the 2146 US soldiers killed, I knew one, Eric Bernholtz. Eric and I went to school together for 2 and a half years. Over 12,000 mourners celebrated his life at his funeral. It's amazing how inner-connected we are. Eric touched thousands of lives. He, like so many others, was killed in Iraq in a war that cannot be won. When will this stop?

Also today, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency Stanley Tookie Williams. Whether Williams is guilty or not, capital punishment is barbaric. What leads to the thinking that violence can ever be answered with violence to bring peace and justice?

I pray for the day when war and capital punishment will seem as senseless as slavery and genocide.