DEATH INC.

Aside from news that U.S. military deaths in Iraq recently topped 1,000, the media has largely moved such news off its front pages. One exception is the grimly named Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, which provides just that.

But few stories actually mention the number of Iraqis killed since the start of the war — despite none of the Sept. 11 hijackers having been from there.

Today, we see these horrific numbers in an AP story:

While America mourns the deaths of more than 1,000 of its sons and daughters in the Iraq campaign, the U.S. toll is far less than the Iraqi. No official, reliable figures exist for the whole country, but private estimates range from 10,000 to 30,000 killed since the United States invaded in March 2003. ...

Iraqi dead include not only insurgents, police and soldiers but also civilian men, women and children caught in crossfire, blown apart by explosives or shot by mistake--both by fellow Iraqis or by American soldiers and their multinational allies. And they include the victims of crime that has surged in the instability that followed the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Yet a terrorist group with alleged links to al-Qaida was still able to carry out a deadly attack on the Austrian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, today. Meanwhile, a deputy of Osama bin Laden — remember him? — taunted the U.S. in a videotape released just days ahead of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

This is what Bush calls success in the battle against terrorism.