Troops distribute toys to Iraqi children for Christmas

Left I has this poignant piece on the children...

Just caught CNN showing a piece on "Chief Wiggles" (an American reservist in Iraq) who is distributing toys to Iraqi children for Christmas (never mind that they don't celebrate Christmas, it's the thought that counts, I guess). Aaron Brown, who was narrating the piece, discussed how the children were poor, hungry, in some cases homeless, etc. Not once did the fact that some of them might be orphans, and were orphaned by the actions of the U.S. armed forces, come up. Or that they might be hungry because their parents are among the millions of Iraqis who have become unemployed as a result of the invasion. Or that they might be homeless because their home was destroyed by American bombing.

Nor, amidst all this new-found sympathy for Iraqi children, was there any mention of the half-million or so of them who died because of a decade of U.S./U.N. sanctions. Not to worry, though, Americans, we can ease our consciences (those of us who even know about the children who died because of sanctions) by giving toys to the ones who are left.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.