US Military deaths down in July ... Iraqi civilian deaths up! But then, who's counting?

By now, we know that when it comes to the war in Iraq, lives don't count the same from person to person ... and indeed, aren't even counted in some cases.

The good news for July 2006 is that the counts for American soldiers dead has gone down for the third straight month -- largely due to a wise decision to keep fewer of our young men and women in combat on a daily basis. Unfortunately, there is another side to that same coin as dramatically shown in the above photograph wherein a mother (I can only assume) is trying to pull her curious child back into the house ... and out of harms way ... I hope and pray!

At last count, we lost only 44 of our military in Iraq this past month, but best "guesses" are that more than 100 Iraqi civilians died each day, largely thanks to the lower posture of our military and the more aggressive activities on both sides (Sunnis and Shiites) of the increasing sectarian violence.

With regard to certain domestic issues, the President has made it abundantly clear that he is "pro-life" and that, under no circumstances (e.g., his recent veto of human embryonic cell research being funded by the Federal Government and his continuing and courageous stand against "abortion on demand" ... that has become commonplace in the US) does he accept the old adage that the end justifies the means.

From the original preemptive strike against Iraq (the evening of "shock and awe" that we watched in exciting green and gray on our television sets) through today, strikes upon targets containing civilians have been an important aspect of the war. The means? Cluster bombs, "daisy cutters" and PGMs of all sizes. The end? Something along the lines of "if we fight them there, we won't have to fight them at home."

For both the US in Iraq and for Israel over Lebanon, the question remains, does the end truly justify the means? Ask the children of Falluja or of Ramadi ... or (more recently) of Qana in southern Lebanon. Ask the mother of the child in the above photograph ... if either or both are even still alive.