Be Thankful

3,709. Almost four thousand. That's the number of Iraqis that were killed in the rising sectarian violence in Iraq during the month of October, according to a newly released UN report. 3,709 men, women, and children dead as a direct result of our illegal invasion of a sovereign nation.

In one month.

And since July, 13,653 Iraqi civilians have been killed.

Once November's dead are tallied the sum is expected to eclipse October's "deadliest" numbers.

100,000 Iraqis are fleeing their country each month; nearly 27 million since the war began in March 2003 (1.6 million of these have sought refuge in neighboring countries).

As the Associated Press reports: "Assassinations of professionals continued at an alarming rate in the past two months, including journalists, teachers, professors, lawyers, doctors, and political and religious leaders."

Lynchings and torture are on the rise. Bodies are deposited in the streets with missing fingers, teeth, eyes—you name it—as Sunnis and Shiites compete through increasing brutality. These bodies number in the dozens, every single day.

Yesterday alone, as my hometown rag The San Diego Union Tribune reports, 76 bodies were found dumped in four cities—59 of them in Baghdad alone.

And today—as millions of Americans gorge themselves on turkey and stuffing, beer and wine, football and movies—the United States has been engaged in the Iraq war longer than it fought during World War II.

Happy Thanksgiving, America.

Be thankful you're not Iraqi.

And as you prepare to spend money you don't have on things you don't need—during "national good-consumer day," following Thanksgiving—I hope you will take some time away from your cellphones, maybe while you're standing in line waiting for Macy's to open, to think about the dozens of Iraqis who will be tortured, murdered, and dumped on a Baghdad street because of a policy you might have at one time supported. A policy done in your name even if you didn't support it.