Va. Tech Shootings: Olbermann Wonders, “Have We Suppressed Grief About Iraq?”

The #3 story on Tuesday’s Countdown was “over here and over there.” Keith Olbermann said:

“It is an unspeakable and overwhelming tragedy, up to 30 young Americans killed violently, pointlessly, and the rest of us left with an urgent and almost helpless feeling that somebody could have done something to prevent it, and that everybody must do something to protect the next potential victims. And yet, the same number of young Americans of approximately the same age have died in Iraq in the last 10 days. clearly, while one make take issue with the comparison, one may not ignored the similarities. Moreover, in a more practical sense, the deaths in Iraq could have been much more readily prevented, and the desire much more easily fulfilled to protect the more potential victims there. No one questions the nation’s grief about Virginia Tech — but have we suppressed our grief about Iraq?”

He concluded: “It seems fair to ask the question: If the violent deaths in Virginia send a nation into shock and expressions of concern and anxiety, why isn’t a continuous flow of American blood in Iraq generating a similar reaction?”