Newsweek published a heart-touching article about the 12 service members killed in the crash of a Blackhawk helicopter on Jan. 20, 2007, titled “The True Cost of War”.

More than 3,000 U.S. service members have now died in the Iraq war. At first it was difficult not to feel overwhelmed by the number of deaths. After four years, it is now difficult not to feel numb. In a nation without a draft, the emotional connection between the front and the home front is the weakest it has been in a major conflict in recent memory. There are so many news accounts of troops killed in combat that the details blur. The death of one soldier, or 20, loses its power to shock, except to the families of the fallen.

At some point, the way we talk about the war itself changes. We speak less and less about husbandless wives and parentless children, and instead obscure the suffering in vaguer, more distant and—guiltily—easier terms. We shake our heads and talk about the “losses.”

...the 12 Americans who died in the Black Hawk crash offer us a vivid reminder of what is happening on the battlefield, and of the cost so many families are paying when loved ones die in combat. Guard members have taken on much of the burden of this war, and those who died aboard that helicopter were like many others who have lost their lives in the fighting: ordinary people asked to do the extraordinary. They were husbands and wives, parents and even grandparents. Some relied on their faith in God, others, their faith in the commander in chief. At least one no longer believed the war was worth fighting, but carried out his duties. Together, they left behind 34 children and at least a dozen grandchildren.

As we contemplate sending more men and women like them into harm’s way, their demise leaves behind perhaps the only question that truly matters in wartime: is it worth it?

The Iraq vets who support VoteVets don’t think so. VoteVets is launching a new TV ad with some of those vets speaking out against the escalation in Iraq.

And here’s the latest AP update on US casualties:

The Associated Press, “U.S. military deaths in Iraq hit 3,084”

As of Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007, at least 3,084 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,464 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

[...]

The latest deaths reported by the military:

• Two soldiers were killed Sunday in a helicopter crash near Najaf.

• Two soldiers were killed Saturday in separate bombings in Baghdad.

• A Marine was killed Saturday in Anbar province.

 
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