It was with a heavy heart that I read that 10 Coalition troops were killed on Monday, 9 of them Americans. The guerrillas who attacked the US outpost also wounded 20 other soldiers, 5 of them seriously. Militiamen in Basra killed a British soldier. I'm sad about all this because we won't have round the clock cable television coverage of them, or lower the flag to half mast for them.
That's from Juan Cole this morning, in response to yet another surge in death and severe injury in Iraq.
His reference to the flag mirrors a growing movement to lower flags in response to US deaths in the war -- contrary to what the administration would like to see. But those in favor (count me in) argue sensibly that while we lower the flag as a sign of respect for those lost at Virginia Tech, the administration is still smuggling military who have died in Iraq back to the US under cover of darkness, with no cameras, no lowering of flags.
