It's commonly remembered -- by me, for one -- that al-Qaeda murdered 3,000 Americans on 9/11. The actual total, as revised and accepted in 2003, is 2,752 casualties, and if that figure is no longer correct, I'll rely on the collective intelligence of the blogosphere to set me straight. If it is, however, the Iraq war has claimed 2,889 U.S. troops' lives and counting. Did I miss the news stories commemorating the surpassed 9/11 death toll? Or, like me, did my colleagues simply neglect to follow the actual totals?

That anonymity is unacceptable. That's reason why I publish the 75-and-counting-in-two-months What Gives You The Right posts -- because I couldn't take reading the DOD death notices in my inbox day in and day out without some form of memorial, or even just recognition. If I was able to put together a biography of each of these 2,889 fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines I would. But I can't. Or will I just not spend the effort?

Bob Gates made clear at his confirmation hearings that there will be many, many, more, for years and years and years. I wonder if one day we'll become so inured to Iraq that we'll treat it like we treat New Orleans: a vague recognition that something unacceptable happened, but it rolls on in veiled horror, with everyone so grimly resigned to the ongoing nightmare that it passes by without notice. It happened to the Afghanistan war, didn't it, in miniature? Perhaps it's precisely because the Afghan war was so uncontroversial that everyone felt they could safely turn to more divisive rhetorical, political, intellectual and military endeavors. Score one for hatred: at least it keeps us attentive.