War Protesters Roll Out Body Count Ticker

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

For the few Las Cruces residents who regularly visit the downtown area, the sight of Iraq War protesters waving signs and wrapped in black clothing is a familiar one.

The US military death toll now exceeds 4,000, but that’s just a fraction of the estimated 650,000 Iraq civilians who have been killed during the war. The protesters have pooled together to invest in a roadside electronic ticker to keep an ongoing count of the dead, in real-time.

“We feel it’s important for everyone to see exactly how many people are being killed by the Bush Corporation, whether they’re a US soldier who made a really stupid mistake by signing up or a young Iraqi child who thought an American grenade was a plaything to throw at his brothers,” states Lead Protester Johnathan Lennon.

Lennon added, “Some people honk or wave at us with support, but not many. Most people just don’t give a flying fuck because the bombs aren’t dropping in their neighborhood. One guy drove by in a Hummer and threw a can of Budweiser at me, yelled something about me being a ‘terrorist hippy’ and that I should be proud to ‘support our troops no matter what.’ Then I saw a yellow ribbon decal on the back of his tank, under the NASCAR sticker, and I realized he was just expressing his patriotism.”

“Now you can check the body count on your way to the library, and by the time you pass by again to stop at the post office you’ll know for sure how many more people have been murdered while you were running errands.”