The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

U.S. Deaths in War:
The Politicians Aren’t the Ones Who Pay

Mar 31, 2003

One of the first Marines to die in this Iraq war grew up in Baltimore. His family was quoted in the media on the first Thursday and Friday after the war began. His father angrily claimed his son died for "oil and money." The grieving man said, "He was my only son." Asked by a reporter what he wanted to tell President Bush, the father said, "This was not your son or daughter. That chair he sat in at Thanksgiving will be empty forever."

One of the dead man’s sisters was even more direct in her anger against the government. "It’s all for nothing. That war could have been prevented. Now we’re out of a brother. Bush is not out of a brother. We are," she cried.

This is the cost the politicians never mention when they whip up a line to explain why we have to fight their wars.