Not Counting Iraqi Casualties
The current issue of Newsweek has the cover title "God and War." Inside there are several articles — "The Human Costs of War," "How Soldiers Keep Faith During War," "One Flag, Many Faiths," and "In God they Trust" — that address core issues with the War in Iraq: the rising numbers of US dead and wounded; the lack of proper equipment and training for our troops; the over-extended tours of duty; the inadequacies of medical treatment for returning vets; the huge stresses on military families; and the difficulty so many have in reconciling the terrible business of war with their faith in God.
It is a thorough accounting of America's losses in this idiot war. Yet the magazine contains not a single word about Iraq's unfathomable losses.
Newsweek is hardly alone in its lack of concern for Iraqi casualties: the hundreds of thousands dead, the millions of refuges, the decimation of the country's infrastructure and natural environment. Standing up for the Iraqi people is considered irrelevant, even treasonous, when American lives are in harm's way. It's safe to say that most Americans could give a flying flag about the death of innocent foreigners.
This disregard for all things unamerican is the main reason they hate us so. It's not that they "hate freedom," as the War President never tires of saying. It's not that they envy our wealth and good fortune. It's not that they resent Hollywood and McDonalds and Starbucks and the rest. It's not that they are bent on persecuting Christians.
They shared in our horror on 9/11, felt our pain, and joined in our suffering. Briefly, the world united in a common cause. Briefly, the real haters were clearly defined apart from the rest of us, a distinct threat to all people, requiring a unified response from all people.
They watched carefully as the most powerful nation in the world reacted to tragedy. They saw how 9/11 galvanized America — changed everything — and felt awed, perhaps even shocked, at how the murder of 3,000 innocents in a nation of nearly 300 million could make such a profound difference.
They watched us sifting through the debris of 9/11, searching for some trace, even the minutest speck, of every single person who perished in the explosions. Extraordinary! They saw the shrines to the dead on every street, watched the countless memorials, observed the outpouring of art and music, all honoring the dead. So beautiful, so heartwarming, so touching.
So very true to the human spirit: every person counts, each one matters, and no innocent death should ever go unnoticed, unmourned, unanswered.
Then they watched the invasion of Afghanistan. However justified it may have been, that war took more than 3,000 innocent lives, and triggered several horror events, such as the bombing of a wedding party. When asked about such deaths, General Tommy Franks replied: "We don't do body counts."
They watched with growing horror as the numbers grew worse with the invasion and occupation of Iraq. They listened to Brigadier General Vincent Brooks: "We inflict a considerable amount of destruction on whatever force comes into contact with us. It just is not worth trying to characterize by numbers."
They heard: We will kill whoever gets in our way, civilians be damned. They heard: It is just not worth trying to count the thousands of innocent people that the invaders have killed. They heard: Only Americans matter.
They heard: We do not count the deaths of Iraqi civilians because Iraqi civilians do not count.