Punctuation marks

Greg Mitchell at Editor and Publisher has some thoughts on what has to be one of the most bizarre statements Bush has ever made.

I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is — my point is, there’s a strong will for democracy."

A comma. Tell that to the families that he doesn't choose for his secret photo ops. The hundreds of thousands dead at his hand will be comforted I'm sure. Mitchell has a few more exclaimation points of his own.

But I'd like to offer one more, the simple period, to replace the hopeful comma. Below you will find some 2,700 periods, each standing for an American life lost in Iraq. Space does not permit a full accounting of the Iraqis killed, or any of those damaged for life.

It takes a long time to click down that many teeny tiny headstones if you do it line by line. It would take hours to click through if there was a dot for every life that has been damaged by this man's war.