Published on Monday, November 19, 2007

Editorial omitted crucial September 11 death toll

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I commend your factual display on Iraq war numbers. As you say, “Numbers don’t lie,” and they don’t, so let me say I was very pleased and interested to see what the numbers were. However, there is one number you didn’t put on there, and I think for comparison, you should.

Sept. 11 is what started us in Iraq, isn’t it? Maybe not the only reason but definitely a contributing factor. The death toll for Sept. 11 was 2,974 people (in New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania crash site).

In comparison and as you stated in your paper, 3,860 U.S. soldiers have died since the start of the Iraq war. That means that 886 more U.S. soldiers have died serving and defending our country from “terrorists” and terrorists than citizens who died on Sept. 11.

Is it just me, or does anybody else see something wrong with this picture?

Joette Hagen
Senior, history/ecology