Is there any connection between the kids being killed at VT and American soldiers being killed and maimed in Iraq? No, not as such. The former was a random act of violence perpetrated by an enraged and alienated psychopath; the latter is the result of deliberate policy, and yes, a consequence of having volunteered for potentially risky duty. So in that sense I concede you are correct.

But that is not the point. The connection that does exist has been supplied by Bush's very appearance at the memorial for the slain students, in just the sense that I have already described in my previous comments. To reiterate: in my analysis, Bush's appearance at VT was nothing more than cynical, calculated politics. He was there not out of any genuine concern for the grief of the bereaved, but for the opportunity to once again present himself before the national media as a paternalistic figurehead. He did NOT need to be there, and in fact his presence only added to the media spectacle created around what should have been a private affair. By contrast, while reportedly he has met off-camera with the families of dead soldiers and given all the appearance of sincerity he as a seasoned politician has learned to muster, he and his administration have done all they can to keep these deaths out of the public eye. And unlike the scene at VT, Bush does in fact bear a great deal of responsibility for these military deaths. He is the one who sent these men and women into harm's way. You emphasize that they were volunteers, and that is true enough. Let's lay aside for now any discussion of the socioeconomic factors leading to this "voluntary" duty, and to what extent the war dead "freely" chose military service. Even granted that these soldiers and marines signed on of their own free will, they did so putting their full confidence in their commander-in-chief, that they were at his disposal in defending their (and my) country from REAL threats. It is my opinion, and that of the majority of the American people, that Mr. Bush has violated that trust by sending them into an unnecessary and opportunistic war to be killed or wounded to no good purpose.