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Iraqi Civilian Causalities - 97,176 est.
US Military Causalities - 4,415
Iraqi Military Causalities - 15,000 est.
Total Dead 116,591
This of course does not include wounded, homeless, the millions of Iraqi refugees or the $749 billion that the war in Iraq has cost so far.
It's fascinating that one of the biggest debates we have today is not how we allowed AIPAC and the neo-cons to manipulate the 9/11 tragedy into what many see as a proxy war for Israel. On the contrary, now a new war campaign has begun with the banging of the drum for more bombing, death and destruction. This begs the question, are their any consequences for American journalists? If you tend not to agree with the special relationship between Israel and the United States there are.
When a journalists like Helen Thomas clearly states that she is anti-Zionist and does not believe Israel has the right to create Jewish state in the midst of a land historically occupied by Palestinians, she is banished, at the age of 89. Of course, her choice of words was unfortunate, but in most cases a grateful country will give one of its most trailblazing journalists a break for a poorly worded statement made at a very advanced age. But not Helen Thomas. Ari Fleisher took time off from representing Tiger Woods and Mark Magwire to lobby hard to have her fired.
Lets not forget some of Ari's statements on Iraq.
Ari Fleisher
Press Briefing
March 21, 2003
"Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes."
If someone was to call for the head of Helen Thomas, maybe a person with a little less blood on their hands might have been more appropriate.
Octavia Nasr was CNN's Senior Middle East News Editor and had worked for the network for 20 years. When Sayyed Mohammed Hussein, a very influential and beloved religious Shiite figure died, she made the mistake of making this very controversial Tweet "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah . . . . One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot." She was fired within days.
Framing the Debate
