From Dave Batstone

Read this today from Dave in California This week, the 1,000th U.S. soldier died in Iraq, according to the Pentagon`s own accounting, going back in time since the first day of the invasion. My thoughts immediately went to the parents of those young (in most cases) men and women who lost their lives.I am sure that those parents feel proud for the sacrifice and bravery that their children demonstrated, putting themselves in harm`s way in service for their country. I am equally sure that those parents feel unspeakable grief once the phone call came that their beloved one would not be returning home. Grieving those 1,000 lives is made tragically difficult, since the public relations of war dictates that Americans should not see their soldiers come home in body bags. The Pentagon bans photographs of dead soldiers, let alone the coffins that hold them. The message is, let`s not make the war personal. War is best fueled by ideologies, slogans, and fears. The faces of the victims throw off the tempo of the military parade. It goes without saying that we Americans will not honor the lives of Iraqis who have been killed in this conflict either. We do not know their names, nor do we imagine the pain that the parents of those victims feel. The Pentagon even refuses to track (publicly) the number of their fatalities. They are not people to us. They are terrorists, Arabs, Muslims, aliens, enemies. Modern warfare ceases to be war once it becomes personal. Have you ever stopped to think how ironic it is that of the men who are most responsible for unleashing a pre-emptive strike on Iraq - President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, the former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle, and White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove - not one has spent a single minute in military combat? Nor do any of their sons or daughters put their lives on the line out of patriotism. Surely there would be less swagger in their rhetoric if it was they who walked the front lines, or if it was their own children who would seek to occupy the streets of Fallujah. As a father, the campaign trail leaves me cold. The presidential candidates trip over themselves to convince me that they are more warrior than the other. George W. Bush, who apparently could not even make time to check into his military base in Alabama, tells us that he will rattle the sword to usher in freedom to the Middle East. Not to be outdone, John Kerry greets us with a military salute and wants us to believe that his true legacy from Vietnam is as a war hero, not as a principled anti-war veteran. For my part, I want to hear how the candidate will be a peacemaker. How will they contribute to a lasting peace in Israel and Palestine? How will they stop the violence in Sudan? How will they end the hostility that pushes us toward a clash of civilizations, Christian vs. Muslim? How will they build bridges that terrorists will not aim to blow up? I take peace personally; I do not want to see my children grow up with the imminent fear of a terrorist attack. I wish the next president of the United States would take war - and peace - personally too.