The war in Iraq has not exactly gone according to plan – even the president himself has conceded this much. The fact that both Democrats and Republicans alike are now scratching their heads in search of progressive ideas is a testimony to the bipartisan confusion and disagreement over the war.

However, the past few weeks have presented intriguing, yet extremely disheartening moral and ethical circumstances – two specifically. Those are the fact that the total reported death toll of U.S. soldiers has exceeded 3,000 and the hanging of Saddam Hussein.

Focusing on these two events, it isn’t difficult to see how great the loss of dignity and respect is for mankind individually and as a whole.

One could argue that the war in Iraq is one of the most controversial wars in all of U.S. history, certainly since Vietnam. What I hope to put forth is a sincere illustration of the present value, or lack thereof, concerning the moral worth of human life.

Recently the reported death toll of U.S. soldiers surpassed 3,000 men and women. More than 3,000 fathers, sons, mothers and daughters have now patriotically died fighting in a war for a country where almost two thirds of its inhabitants disagree about our military involvement.

America is growing weary of the war and the toll it is taking on our nation. The newspaper headlines all read the same every day. They have become cold and remote in comparison to the fire they used to stir in America’s heart as early as just a year or two back.

Ironically, Iraq has never seemed so alienated from the rest of the world. The only emotion that seems to be present is anger – anger at one another, not even with the “enemy.”

In the midst of our division, the sacredness of human life has greatly eroded. Yes, I suppose the point of this whole war is to enhance our security as a nation and protect our precious liberties and freedom. However, I do not believe (recent polls show I am not alone) that the U.S. is in severe jeopardy of being robbed of what it calls its “God-given rights.”

Accordingly, I do not believe that such absurd paranoia justifies the thousands of American lives (not to mention the enormous number of Iraqi lives) lost. Human beings are given one life to live on this planet and it is a moral travesty that one’s life should be cut short in an unjustified war where, sadly, the ends justify the means.

I hope that it does not take another 3,000 deaths to realize we have made a mistake. Saddam Hussein was a terrible man – a ruthless dictator who deserved to be brought to justice. There is no sane being who could possibly argue against this. However, the proper moral, or perhaps ethical, justice that Hussein deserved as a human being was not preserved in his primeval form of execution. Yes, Hussein brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. But what moral lesson does the world learn when proper justice in this situation is essentially an eye for an eye? The paradoxical lesson learned is that killing deserves killing – death deserves death – awfully hypocritical if you ask me. President Bush emphatically maintains that, “Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself and be an ally in the war on terror.” It seems to me that one of the U.S. objectives in establishing a democracy in Iraq is to civilize Iraq. That is, almost all Americans have a priori bias that not only Iraqi citizens, but most Middle Eastern citizens behave and conduct themselves in an essentially primitive fashion. Therefore, I am baffled, although not surprised, that President Bush believes this public masquerade of “justice” is an important step in helping to democratize Iraq. It is enormously depressing to think that such “justice” now has more moral and ethical value than human life.

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