“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”

“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” This Yogi-ism can be about tragedies far surpassing the collapse of the Chicago Cubs in 1969. 

Today the NYT reports that the Department of Defense has identified 2,300 American service members who have died as a part of the Afghan war and related operations. The Times dutifully reports The Names of the Dead in a boxed item whenever the DOD releases this information. Does your local newspaper or TV news outlet do this? Why not? A common phrase during WWII (The “good” war!) was “Don’t you know there’s a war going on?” For most of the general public, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been about concealing, clouding over, forgetting the costs of these wars of arrogance. We bury the realities of the deadly Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld fantasy while a few families and friends are left to bury their fallen loved ones.

Two names appeared in Names of the Dead box today–a 20 year old from Minnesota and a 52 year old from New Hampshire. I thank these two for their service and their courage. Ten long years ago I was writing about this. Yeah, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”

http://readingatxroads.blogspot.com/2007/01/1000-x-3.html