Here is a photo of Paul Smith. He is dead now, he died saving many of his fellow soldiers in Iraq. If he had performed the heroic acts that lead to his death in World War II he would have been hailed a hero by the US Government. The propaganda machine would have been getting significant mileage out of his deeds and his image would have been splashed across the media. Shorts that used to precede the movie in the theatres would have chronicled his deeds. His loved ones could have gained some small consolation from the recognition of his heroics by his country.

Paul Smith, however, died in Iraq. A war whose profile his government is trying to minimise. For Paul and his family there is no official public recognition of his heroic death. There is no pagentry to accompany the return of his body. There is no consolation to be derrived by his loved ones from the honour that his government is paying him. He is just a statistic, like a death from a car accident.

It seems that, in pursuit of the US governments objectives, Paul has not only sacrificed his life but also his entitlement to the recognition by his country of the sacrifice that he has made.