At the January 27th march against the war in Iraq, a pale blond girl’s cardboard sign read on one side: “Sgt. Nathaniel J Nyren;” the other, “I lost my Dad in Iraq.” Of all the signs our small contingent from Students for Peace and Justice saw that day, this was the most compelling.

Who can count the lives lost in Iraq? The current administration refuses to, but others know we must try. Approximately 3,065 American families could hold a sign like Nyren’s daughter; so could 426,000 Iraqi. That is the low estimate from Lancet, the British medical journal and includes civilian deaths from failed water, food and medical suppliesthe chaos of war.

There are still more deaths tied to the Iraq War, as an analysis by David Leonhart shows, because the $120 billion annual war costs cannot go to services that save lives.

We did not spend $100 billion providing health care to uninsured Americans, so untold lives were constricted, lost.

More died because we didn’t double the $ 600 million annual spending on cancer research.
Most costly, the $.6 billion needed to immunize children around the world to prevent deaths from tuberculosis, tetanus, polio and diphtheria was not spent.

To the terrible loss of life in Iraq, we must add those who died because money that could have saved their lives was diverted for war.

The toll for the Iraq war is far higher and grief greater than we have calculated.

Associate Prof of English: Anne Cassebaum - 02/08/07