Incredibly Short Memory

(Via Associated Press)

BAGHDAD — Americans have opened nearly 1,000 new graves to bury U.S. troops killed in Iraq since Memorial Day a year ago. The figure is telling - and expected to rise in coming months.

In the period from Memorial Day 2006 through Saturday, 980 soldiers and Marines died in Iraq, compared to 807 deaths in the previous year. And with the Baghdad security operation now 3 1/2 months old, even President Bush has predicted a difficult summer for U.S. forces.

"It could be a bloody - it could be a very difficult August," he said last week.

On Memorial Day, we are supposed to honor those who gave there lives so we could have the freedoms we enjoy. Unfortunately, the politicians who make the decisions about these things seem intent on adding as many new dead soldiers as possible to the rolls already far too full. And they are also too ready to forget the ones who still live in harm's way, and those who have returned to dwindling benefits, nonexistent mental health care, and quicker returns to duty.

Mother Jones said it quite well:

"Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living."