To the editor:

Recently, a very well-dressed woman told me, “the death toll in Iraq was insignificant.” I asked her, “how could over 1,700 lives be insignificant?” Her answer to me was, “it is a small number.” For the many who think or don’t understand the significance of the number 1,700 do the following exercise:

1. Obtain 1,700 coins, it doesn’t matter what domination. For this exercise let’s use nickels, that would be $85 of nickels.

2. Place these nickels on a table, a large table, and do not stack. Put them in a neat or random order, it does not matter.

3. Now look at these nickels and think that each one represents an American service member who has died before their time, each nickel had someone who loved them. They may have had dreams for their future – a future that will never be.

4. While you look at the nickels ask, “why did they die?” Were there weapons of mass destruction? Was Iraq a training ground for terrorists? Al-Qaida connection? Were we threatened by Iraq? To all these questions the answer is “no.” “The Downing Street Memo” indicates President Bush took this country to war without real justification to do so.

The woman said, “You are unAmerican, you do not support the troops.” She will never do this exercise because ignorance is bliss. As for being unAmerican and not supporting the troops, I am one of the troops and have been so for the past 29 years.

Bruce W. Johanning,

Lawrence