If anything, the media has failed to depict just how disastrous the Iraq war is.

At least 85,000 DOCUMENTED Iraqi civilian deaths (we can only speculate as to what the real number is) - http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

4134 American soldiers killed in action - http://icasualties.org/oif/

The war has cost the US $648 billion that they don't have. -
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Journalists must conceal their identity, or risk kidnapping and murder. Violence against journalists is extremely widespread - <link>

The war is unwinnable, since much larger forces are required to battle a healthy number of insurgents and contain sectarian violence. Even the troop surge didn't work. Violence went down because some insurgents are hiding and waiting for the US to pull out at this point.

A temporary influx of oil wealth is incomparable to the damage this war has caused. How much "progress" must be endured?

I love reading Hitch's columns, but I still cannot fathom his Iraq war cheerleading. He's right to criticize Cindy Sheehan and those in the anti-war crowd who give a moral pass to Iraqis senselessly murdering each other, but he needs to stop selling the war itself if he wants to maintain any credibility as a public intellectual.