Timing

With indications building to suggest that Fitzmas is only a few days away, I am starting to think that it would be best for that glorious day to be postponed briefly, my own monomania to the contrary.

When the indictments come, they will blot out all other stories. And another story will need to be heard in the next few days.

The Iraq death toll for US service personnel stands as of today at 1996, which means number 2000 is only days away. (I haven't seen offical numbers for today; maybe we are already there.) Number 1999 and 2001 and 2002 and 3002 will be every bit as much the uneccessary tragedy that number 2000 will be, but the media will take greater note when the odometer rolls up a number with a lot of zeros.

We don't know what crimes Fitz will charge the Bush Administration with violating. But causing the needless deaths of 2000 American soldiers sure ought to be one of them. (So should the tens or hundreds of thousands of uncounted Iraqi deaths, of course, but Americans seem much less concerned about those.) And so if I had my druthers, that charge would be read over the airwaves before Fitzgerald lets fly. The Plame investigation is finally bringing the debate we should have had three years ago to the fore. I think this important data point ought to make it into the mix.

I'm not suggesting that Fitz will or should play politics this way. He doesn't seem to be that kind of guy, and I applaud him for it. And I'm not wishing for more or quicker deaths. I just hope things line up so that uneccessary death number 2000 does not get lost in the indictment frenzy.