I Suppose I Should Be Flattered, But . . .

Back in March 2006 on the third anniversary of the war in Iraq, I wrote at Kiko's House:

"For many Americans, the war is background noise that only occasionally and inconveniently intrudes as they shop at the mall and catch a glimpse of a bloody street scene from Baghdad on the TVs in the window of an electronics store."

Then in December 2006, I wrote the following at The Moderate Voice, a blog with a substantially larger following:

"Most [Americans] are figuratively if not literally shopping at the mall, and beyond the yellow Support the Troops ribbons on their SUVs, the obscenity that the Iraq war has become is an abstraction. That is unless they are the very rare person who knows a war veteran or happens to stroll past a TV store at the mall and catches a big-screen glimpse of the carnage before they avert their eyes and continue on to Victoria's Secret."

So imagine my surprise when the photograph above, shot by John Moore of Getty Images at a Marine Corps civil affairs office in Ramadi, appeared in newspapers and at military blogs.

I suppose I should feel flattered, but I do not.

As did my words, the graffiti based on them speaks a very sad truth.