Deaths in Iraq

My first article is from Herald-Mail.com, which is a local newspaper for Pennsylvania, West Virgina, and Maryland.

"How far is five miles of coffins?"
http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=display&story_id=190931

The author starts by talking about the distance from his house to other places is five miles. Five miles is actually a long distance that not many people realize how long it really is. And as the article continues, it brings up other articles that have been written about the 4,000 deaths in Iraq. If all 4,000 of those coffins were put next to each other it would equal five miles. One example is the New York Times article picked six soldiers that have died and published their writings home to their families and friends. Also included was 4,000 small boxes that if clicked on, you could see the picture and the name of the soldiers who died. The author said he clicked on some of those squares so he could know who those people really were, and so they are not just part of a number. While reading those letters and getting to know who those people really are, how their family and friends are feeling, and is all these deaths really worth the price of war? It's understood that they are trying to end it, but the author asks a really interesting question at the end of the article. " How many more miles our soldiers will have to travel before this journey is done?"

My second article is from ABC News, which is a big time news station in many areas of the world.

US Military Deaths in Iraq at 4, 032
http://abcnews.go.com/Internation/wireStory?id=4641463

Reported yesterday, at least 4,032 members of the military have died since March 2003. Eight military civilian have died and at least 3, 288 have died as a result of hostile action. The other military reports of death are not even close to the United States. British Military: 176 deaths, Italy: 33 deaths, Ukraine: 18 deaths, Poland: 21 deaths, Bulgaria: 13 deaths, Spain: 11 deaths, Denmark: 7, El Salvador: 5, Slovakia: 4, Latvia: 3, Estonia: 2, Netherlands: 2, Thailand: 2, Romania: 2, Australia: 1, Hungary: 1, Kazakhstan: 1, and South Korea: 1.

In both of these articles they are giving numbers, which is very interesting. But I think the first one was better because the article hit you right in the heart. It made you want to look up the articles about the 4,000 deaths, make you want to get to know the heroes, and get to know their families. The second article was very interesting, but it just gave you the basic news and not the story behind the basic news.