One State -- and One Newspaper -- Debate How to Observe Iraq Casualties

By: E&P Staff In a column timed to the holiday season, Kate Parry, reader's representative for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, paid tribute to the 31 Minnesotans who have lost their lives in Iraq and asked the question: Why didn't each of those deaths make her newspaper's front page?

Coincidentally, The New York Times carries a story on Tuesday on a Vietnam veteran who has set up shop next to an Army recruiting station in Duluth, Minn., showcasing a sign that reads, "Remember the Fallen Heroes." It also carries the number of American troops killed in Iraq, the number wounded, and the number of days gone by since the war began.

Parry, the Star Tribune ombudsman, revealed that while she has received a good deal of mail this year concerning Iraq with conflicting views, marking these deaths on Page One seems to bring people together.

Her report: "Many who oppose the war say the newspaper should put these deaths on the front page to make clear the painful toll the war is taking.

"Many who support the war say running the stories less prominently than page one dishonors the courage and sacrifice of these soldiers."

The math: "Since the first Minnesotan died in Iraq, stories reporting the initial news of 16 of these deaths have appeared on page one, 11 have appeared on the B section cover of Twin Cities and regional news, two appeared on Page A8, one on Page A19 and one on Page B3.

"Earlier this year, editors decided we had reached a point in the duration of the war when the stories should mostly appear on the local section cover."

Whether the story appears on page one or not, Editor Anders Gyllenhaal told Parry, the newspaper tries to make sure the death is at least mentioned there. Whether any story makes page one depends on the other news happening that day, the quality of the writing and how much information has been available from the military and from families, he said.

Parry's conclusion: "Some of the mentions of these deaths on page one have been minuscule. It's simply not enough....

"Putting these stories on page one sends a signal about who we are and what's most important to us. It's a statement worth making about these young Minnesota soldiers."

In Duluth, meanwhile, the sign put up by the former soldier next to the recruitment center "has stirred intense, though always polite, debate in this city," the New York Times reports. "In a way, many of the nation's vast and complicated arguments about war are playing out on a single block here, around a simple piece of wood."

The military recruiters want the sign taken away. "It's disheartening," Staff Sgt. Gary J. Capan, the station's commander, said. "Everyone knows that people are dying in Iraq, but to walk past this on the way to work every day is too much."

But Scott Cameron says his sign should remain. He said that while he opposes the war in Iraq, his sign was not about that at all. "Its intent, he said, is simple and apolitical: to remember the troops, to care for veterans, to recognize what is being lost each day," the Times relates.