At the end of the PBS News Hour last night there were ten more on the honor role of armed services personnel who have died in Iraq. As they come up on the screen in silence, I look first at the age. Many were just at the starting line of their adult life. And equally sad are the ones in their 30s who likely now have fatherless children.

The 2,000 plus body count and even the names don’t do justice to the reality of human loss. The ages, faces, and towns they called home help make it seem more real. The financial cost of this war in Iraq is out of control, but the human cost is only known by the parents, siblings, children, and spouse of one who has been killed (American, Iraqi, and all others).