The U.S. government has caused the deaths, as of September, of as many as 100,000 Iraqi civilians. This report appeared in the Lancet, Oct. 29, 2004, an internationally respected medical journal. The suggestion here is that for the U.S. political leadership to inflict murder and mayhem in our name is to violate the principles by which we live and basic standards of human decency.

I observe that, by and large, U.S. newspapers – including the Sun Journal – and television have all but ignored the story of civilian deaths in Iraq. The coverage has been incomplete and sporadic. The result is far too many U.S. citizens are unaware of the harm their government is doing. We think of those citizens of Germany, who, on being asked about the murder of Jews during the Nazi era, said, “We did not know.”

Why are news reports on these matters so thin? What accounts for an apparent lack of curiosity? We fear that the idea is, especially among political leaders, that some people have less worth than others.

I believe in one great principle upon which our nation was founded. “All men (humankind) are created equal … endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

I urge the Sun Journal to do what a newspaper in a democracy should do: Search out and give people the facts. If their nation is falling short of its promise, they need to know.

Tom Whitney, South Paris

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