Masters of the art of killing.

Ah, yes, the senseless and unnecessary war in Iraq has taken a toll of lives. US military logs reveal 109,032 deaths between January 2004 and December last year, including 66,000 civilian fatalities and 3,771 described as 'friendly,' namely British, US and other allied soldiers. Many of us Americans take all this matter-of-factly. Ho-hum. Even with satisfaction. Exacting revenge on the Muslim world for 9/11. We Americans are good at killing. Better at it maybe than any other nation in the world. Because we have the most lethal of weapons. Just think of how many lives we can take in one stroke. Hiroshima. Nagasaki. We are the greatest military power ever. Doesn't matter that our economy is in a shambles. Doesn't matter that we have 40-some million people living in poverty. Many of 'em children. Doesn't matter that we have 50 million Americans without health insurance. Doesn't matter that we have record numbers of unemployed. Doesn't matter that we have a rapidly-deteriorating infrastructure. Doesn't matter that we have an ever-widening gap between the rich and poor. Doesn't matter that our democracy has become a plutocracy, rule by the rich. Still, we Americans are a proud bunch. Because we can boast of spending more on defense and the military than the rest of the world combined. Yes, we Americans may be stupid. But we're tough hombres. And we've mastered the art of killing. --Jim Broede