7 Year Iraq War Anniversary: Invisible In The U.S.

March 20th was the 7 year anniversary of the U.S. invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq, yet the U.S. media kept it nearly invisible. No photos, no stories, nothing! It was as if it never happened.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children killed, tens of thousands more severely injured, uncounted children orphaned or are dead from the ravages of war, such as a contaminated water supply, shortages of food and lack of medicine.

Millions of Iraqis have fled their nation, including doctors, teachers, legal scholars, engineers, scientists and others who are the backbone of any society.

4,388 U.S. soldiers killed and more than 30,000 severely wounded, devastating their families. Thousands of children will never know one of their parents or have only distant memories of a mother or a father. And many families struggle financially.

Some soldiers who were brave before they were injured now need all the courage they can muster as they function with brain damage or other severe loss. Courage is also vital to the families who love and care for them. Yet they are all invisible.

As for the U.S.'s allied soldiers, 318 of them were killed. But the killing stopped when their nations withdrew from Iraq and brought the rest of them home safely.

Can the lives of all these people mean so little, that the U.S. media can ignore them? Was there no time for them on television? On radio? In newspapers? Magazines? Were there no U.S. politicians to be questioned and held accountable?

Wouldn't it have been worth interviewing some families of the fallen U.S. soldiers? Couldn't President Obama have said a few words on their behalf? How about asking the Iraqi people what they think?

The media covered what it thought was important such as the healthcare debate, March Madness basketball and celebrities. But victims of the Iraq War didn't make it, nor did the $10 billion a month that War costs the U.S., as the healthcare debate ironically raged partly over the fear there isn't enough money to insure everyone.

But dear reader, there is hope. Although the media largely ignored it, thousands of people marched on Washington for peace as did thousands more in California, New York and elsewhere in the U.S. It is rumored thousands more marched in Iraq.

There are millions of Americans of conscience who care for humanity and want the Iraq and Afghan Wars ended. No government or media censorship can change that and eventually, we who sincerely seek an end to these wars will prevail.

Dick