Page 9

I'm reading the paper this morning with a cup a coffee. Ben is enjoying a banana and a cat is meowing outside the window. Strange -- cats don't eat bananas.

Page one of the paper has a color photo of Michael Jackson, flanked by his numerous bodyguards and adorned with his numerous Sergeant Pepper medals.

I flip through the front section, reading about corruption and elections and embryo research, and then, there it is. On the top of Page 9 is a story about 4 soldiers and 26 civilians being killed in Iraq. There's a black and white photo of a disabled Bradley fighting machine and some soldiers covering a dead G.I.

When did Iraq move to the middle of the paper? As I think about it, it's been a long time since I've heard anything significant about it anywhere near the front page.

I read the story. It's the same as the ones I've been reading for the past year. I fold the page and hold it up next to Jackson's photo. It looks dull and foggy. Maybe that's why they throw it on page 9 and everything else on the front page. But maybe that's not right. Maybe our troops and the people we're supposedly liberating deserve more attention than that.