It has recently come to my attention that a large percentage of the American soldiers dying in Iraq are either African American or Hispanic. Not until reviewing various statistics did I come to the conclusion that these soldiers are being used as human shields by the Bush administration and his military central command.

Approximately 40 percent of the fatalities in the war were soldiers of African American or Hispanic decent. This is an extremely large percentage considering that blacks and Latinos only make up about 18 percent of the armed forces. This tactic was also used in Vietnam and is very unfortunate, especially given the fact that the many minorities in this country constantly feel treated as second-class citizens. African Americans are often stereotyped as lazy and Hispanics are labeled as illegal immigrants and are accused of stealing jobs from Americans.

Ironically, these are the people that are purposely being put on the front lines and putting their lives at risk so Americans can preserve the freedoms that they so cherish. One can only feel profoundly indebted to those that have given the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of many who treat them with less respect than they should. Hopefully, some will treat minorities with more respect than in the past, after many of them were used as bullet stoppers in this conflict.