Tyra Is More Fierce Than Death

This story, No More 'Top Model' For Tyra Banks, is placed directly next to (although with a smaller photo) this story, Dozens Killed As Iraq Militia Clashes Spread, at the top of the MSNBC home page. This is probably because 55 Iraqis dying is really just not that big of a deal to people. I would be willing to bet that despite its prime location above the fold of a huge Web site, the Tyra story is going to get more page views. (disclaimer: I DO watch America’s Next Top Model and plenty of other worthless crap on TV)

I distinctly remember when the death toll of US soldiers in Iraq hit 2,000. It was the fall of 2005, around two and a half years after the war began. I was watching CNN with some friends and the guy I was kind of, sort of, unfortunately dating at the time celebrated because the number was so low. The number may be lower than in previous wars but any senseless deaths are too many. There are 2,000 families that lost sons and daughters, and thousands more hoping their loved ones come home safely.

Now, just after the 5 year “anniversary” of the war, and on track with previous milestones set, the death toll of US soldiers reached 4,000 as of Sunday.

But what about the death toll for Iraqi citizens? It gets a little fuzzy here. There are US-Iraqi forces, but there are also the militias, members of which are technically considered civilians, plus, as a result of hosting the war, it is not uncommon to read about schools that oddly are full of children being bombed, wups. The overall total is a little hard to find. I googled “Death toll in Iraq war” and every result on the first page referred to the US soldier death toll. I did however, find this gem from HeraldNet which may make some good points but I can’t get past the second paragraph where it says:

“According to a survey published March 12 by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, just 28 percent of U.S. adults new that the death toll was approaching 4,000.”

Eventually, I tracked down this site, which puts the estimated Iraqi civilian death toll somewhere around 85,000 people. I cannot attest to the accuracy of the site but if it is even remotely correct, I wonder what milestone we will mourn in the US? 100,000, 200,000? There has been a media shit show somewhere around every 500 US soldiers (I obviously think it is important to note US soldier deaths on the news, EVERY soldier that dies is important), but the number of Iraqi civilian deaths has skyrocketed to little fanfare.