Inherent responsibility

Biting commentary by HuffPo contributor Peter Hart today, concerning Brit Hume and American casualties in Iraq. Hume's callous remarks about "historical standards" bring two things immediately to mind.

First and foremost is the absolute importance of trying every other solution available in addressing a crisis before sending our children to fight and die in a foreign land. That when we are asked to make that sacrifice as a people, we can rely on our government to provide truthful reasons for such a monumental course of action. That the media have a tremendous responsibility to report accurately and critically, especially in a time of armed conflict, simply because the consequences of this repetitive human insanity are greater than we can possibly imagine.

Secondly, I'm struck by the cold, unfeeling reality apparently envisioned by certain mouthpieces for the Bush Administration like Hume, a world in which we are expected to casually accept 2,000 deaths as the natural price of loyalty to our "leaders". That we should just chalk up the needless loss of so many of our sons and daughters to another typical day on good ol' planet Earth. That our duty is to sit idly by, and refrain from criticizing the incompetent officials who would allow these children to die, day after day, because of lies, ineptitude, and greed.

It's time to put an end to this Orwellian nightmare, and reject the idea that continuing to send our troops to perish, one by one, is a means of "honoring" those who've already died. And we have to vigorously denounce individuals like Brit who betray the inherent responsibility of their public platforms, and help to perpetuate the dangerous, divided world envisioned and exacerbated by those currently in power.