Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

I mean no disrespect for those who have suffered so horribly in West Virginia.  Though mining is actually a relatively safe job (compared to many others, including construction), there's something singularly horrid about being trapped underground.  Something which makes everything from a little girl down a well to a group of miners trapped under a mountain sure to draw a shiver from those who watch.  And for the family and friends of the victims, there is nothing more awful than what has happened.  

However, while our eyes are still red from watching this story unfold, another tragedy continues apace.  Today alone, 120 Iraqis have lost their lives to the ongoing violence which is consuming their country.  

Two suicide bombers killed 120 people and wounded more than 200 in the Iraqi cities of Kerbala and Ramadi on Thursday in Iraq's bloodiest day for four months.

 Each of these people was a wife, a husband, a child, a father, a mother, a aunt, a cousin, a friend for many more Iraqis.  Today alone, thousands of Iraqis were driven to their knees with grief.  Today alone, a hundred and twenty mothers cried.  Today alone, untold numbers of children went without comfort.  Today alone, Iraqi suffered more than ten times the tragedy of Sago.

And it's not a one time event.  It's not a traveling show.  This kind of huge tragedy is a daily event in Iraq.  The same morning that the miner's bodies were finally recovered, a car bomb killed thirty people in Baghdad.  That event got a thirty second mention at the end of hours of coverage for the horror in West Virginia.  Why?  because tragedy in Irag isn't news.  It's life.  Simple day to day life in Iraq is far more dangerous than working in the most hazardous mine.

When you think of the pain those in West Virginia are feeling, imagine living in a place where just going out the door is viewed with dread.  A place where horror is as likely to be visited on children as on adults.  A place where no one is ever safe, not even in their own homes.  A place where no family goes untouched.

Sago was a tragedy.  Iraq is monstorous.  And, like the Sago Mine, the horror in Iraq is all based on lies.