The New York Times, at a loss for bad news from Iraq, is mining Afghanistan for tragedy and defeat. Today’s front page bears the headline, “500: Deadly U.S. Milestone in Afghan War.” The piece, by Kirk Semple and Andrew W. Lehren, contains heart-wrenching stories of young life cut short, and the online edition contains interactive features with graphs showing casualty breakdowns and mini-bios of lost troops. With this bit of morbidity, the Times has sent out a signal to left-wing media outlets, progressive bloggers, and activists looking for a march: It’s time to switch from death in Iraq to death in Afghanistan.

Running tallies of American causalities in Afghanistan can now go up on websites; Digital collages of Americans killed by the Taliban arranged to form George W. Bush’s face are sure to follow.

The thing about the Times’ milestone is — it’s completely artificial. The casualty count for Americans in Afghanistan passed 500 months ago. On June 13, the AP reported: “In the Afghan campaign, which began in October 2001, the U.S. death total is just over 500, including 313 killed in action.” The number now stands at 563. The “milestone” framework is just a pretense for the paper to shift its gruesome focus onto a new front. And in making up a fake milestone and exploiting it, the Times doesn’t forget to congratulate themselves on being virtuous. The piece includes this quote from a mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan, “If anything good is coming out of that media attention, it’s that people see that they are truly human. It’s not just numbers. It’s actually brothers and sons and fathers. They’re human.”

Indeed. And exemplary human beings, at that. The New York Times staff? Not so much.