Naming the Nameless

However one feels about the policies that have made such a mess of the Iraq war, it is politically and morally unacceptable to be so distanced from those in harm’s way and their families.

—Tom Brokaw (Washington Post, 11/26/2006)

There’s been hardly any media interest in the unrelieved agony of tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq. It’s an ugly subject, and the idea has taken hold that Americans need to be protected from stories or images of the war that might be disturbing. As a nation we can wage war, but we don’t want the public to be too upset by it.

—Bob Herbert (New York Times, 4/25/2005)

America is a nation at war. That is a simple and obvious statement, but I believe most of us would be hard pressed to articulate how this fact affects us in any fundamental way. Unless we have loved ones directly involved in this conflict, the war in Iraq war has precious little personal impact upon our lives. We know that American soldiers and Iraqi civilians are dying on a daily basis, but for the most of us the dead and wounded are merely faceless, nameless individuals in a conflagration taking place far, far away from our homes.

As of this writing, 3072 members of the Coalition Forces have now been killed in the war. (It has been widely reported that more US soldiers have now been killed than the number who perished during the 9/11 attacks). Iraqi civilian deaths are more difficult to ascertain, but most estimate that well more than 50,000 have been killed since the war began in March 2003. But lest we become inured to these kinds of statistics, we would do well to remind ourselves that each of these individuals is a father or a mother, a friend and a loved one. To paraphrase the Talmud, each person killed in Iraq is a whole world unto him or herself.

Starting last December, JRC began the practice of reading the names of five American soldiers and five Iraqi civilians who have been killed in the war in Iraq during our Shabbat services (before our Prayer for Peace.) It’s our way of very simply reminding ourselves that we are nation at war, that war comes with a real human cost – that war is not just an abstract concept, but a very terrible and daily reality for real life individuals.

We also want to honor the truth that the massive loss of Iraqi civilian life has been a particularly tragic consequence of this conflict. Unlike the US war dead, our country does not keep public record of civilian casualties. – and thus it is all the more critical to name the nameless, to honor the memory of innocent Iraqis who are living and dying in the crossfire of war.

Some might reasonably ask, why are we singling out those killed in this particular conflict? Aren’t there people dying in Israel and the territories, in Darfur and Somalia, in any number of horrible conflicts around the world?

There are certainly no lack of human tragedies that would be worthy of mention when we gather for services. The prospect is truly overwhelming to contemplate. But being overwhelmed is no excuse for paralysis or silence. I personally believe that if we’re to honor the memory of the fallen in our midst, we must find the wherewithal to begin somewhere.

I’d like to think that by naming the nameless of this one terrible conflict, we’re naming the nameless of wars everywhere.

(To read in-depth news and lists regarding US soldier deaths and casualities, visit Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. For news and lists of Iraqi civilian deaths, visit Iraq Body Count.)