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TechnoratiAmerican Genocide In The Middle East: Three Million and Counting
Deaths directly and indirectly attributable to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq have neared one million people, a body count higher than the genocides in Rwanda and Sudan combined, according to a new report released by Just Foreign Policy.
That brings the U.S. caused death count in the Middle East to over three million people, and that's not even counting fatalities in Afghanistan or Palestine.
The Just Foreign Policy report is an update to two controversial studies published by the prestigious British medical journal the Lancet. In 2003, the Lancet reported over 100,000 excess deaths in Iraq were attributal to the U.S. invasion. That study may be read here.
In 2006, the Lancet updated their study and found over 600,000 excess deaths in Iraq since the U.S. invasion. That study may be read here.
The killing of Iraqis since the U.S. invasion includes violence caused by the overwhelming air and ground power of U.S. military forces, mortalities caused by the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and disappearances and murders caused by sectarian conflict and internal power struggles among different Iraqi factions.
The report's methodology is controversial because it bypasses the normal model of death verification - which requires documenting each and every individual body tallied by governments, hospitals, and morgues - and instead uses a model first developed to estimate deaths caused by earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters, where bodies are often never found.
Many defenders of the occupation of Iraq claim that a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq would spark a genocide as sectarian conflict and civil war escalated out of control. Indeed, violence may increase temporarily in the short term following a U.S. withdrawal. Nature abhors a vacum and competition among Iraqi factions for power may increase as they rush to fill the void.
However, what is clear is that the U.S. invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq in and of itself constitutes a kind of genocide. American economic sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s killed one million civilians, according to a 2003 study by the Centre for Population Studies. And the U.S. funded both sides of the Iran/Iraq war in the 1980's, contributing to well over one million Arab and Persian casualties, according to Farhang Rajaee in a 1993 article published by the University of Florida titled The Iran-Iraq war: the politics of aggression.
Now an additional 996,836 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion in 2003. The instability and sectarian conflict were stoked by this unilateral, preemptive, and illegal invasion, and there is little hope of the internal conflict ending while Iraq is under foreign military occupation.
This situation is historically similar to the colonial period, where infighting between African and other indigenous tribes around the globe increased because of the havoc wreaked by colonial powers and their divide-and-conqueor strategies.
Indeed, the seeds of conflict and disputes between ethnic groups, e.g. in Rwanda, were planted by Western colonialism. People of color around the world reap what we sow.
The immediate future of Iraq looks grim, with solutions ranging from bad to worse. Our only hope of ending the senseless violence is an unconditional and immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, followed by some kind of responsible assistance by the U.N. and Arab peacekeeping forces.
If the Iraqis have to go to civil war to sort out the mess that our government has left them in, let them. It will eventually burn itself out like in Lebanon and, without any further interference from the West besides reconstruction and reparations, the Iraqis will be able to begin rebuilding their devastated country.
David Goodner is senior at the University of Iowa majoring in international studies and human rights.
60 Comments so far
Show AllDavid, thanks for the article..
Paxmana: ".. the beacon fires are leaping." haha!
Such a dreamer you are, U dreamer YOOUU! LOL
Cute in the context, with Hrbs Crpus gone, ratification of constitutional rights, high crimes (Spet11), and actively deploying our own Armed Forces (our children) in the name of "fightin terrism" with operating intelligence from ClA and FBl against US Citzens in the name of "Homland Securty" -not United States, for the first F*$&# time in history, all in goood 7 short years, makes you look like one funnier behooved dude or dudet, Paxa.
History shows the forthcoming is bad for us US citizens. Death of Kendy meant more than you may fathom Pax. Lyndn was whats called a sleeper. That happend for the first F@$?# time too. Believe or not, it is actually a very different reason from WHY the death of Lincoln. histroy is bit more colorful than u may think. Go to a lawyer and ask'm to explain Patrot Act to ya, my good buddy (or buddet). It feels like a slide downward and we're about to hit the ground.
ANYWAY...
Your ".. the beacon fires" is some what dim and about to go out for us good citizens let alone if even real to victms of Iraqi Holocaust.
Oh well, maybe we're deserving of our good governmt with such mindset, no? I bet ya think of hillery or obama, lady or black for prez next, huh?
Holocaust or Nakbar .. same difference .. same turd. Thank you for the article David.
My evolving understanding of what was going on behind the theater curtains blew a circuit fuse and started a fire .. it is real good to see other beacon fires winking from hill tops in distant lands .. brothers and sisters all.
People in every land are becoming increasingly restless at what is being done in their name. Acquiescence in the bestiality will surely attract reciprocal Karma .. as just as sure as as Nations do .. historical fact (Karma)
What is happening in terms of a global brain such as the internet? When people talk to each other its like neurons firing and comes the understanding that we are not so different on the inside after all ..
The late 1950,s thru 70,s represented a change in consciousness .. those born in the 30,s and 40,s will understand because those thought patterns were irrevocably changed with the advent of 'Flower Power' .. the same sort of change is in the air today on a global basis .. the beacon fires are leaping.
Iraq is not the end please we have yet to nuke Iran. Why? because it's President is the new Hitler who doesn't believe in the holohoax. Furthermore another holohoax is just around the corner. How do we know? Why Bibi said so on his last trip to Israeli occupied territory, Capitol Hill, that is.
It is 1938 and Iran is the new Germany.
We're stuck in a time warp.
mikecorbeil - the added stuff on my blog reflects an update i made early wednesday after i received your editing comments. notice i linked to three more sources re: casualties during economic sanctions, and corrected the 2003/2004 error on the first lancet report. thanks.
David, I read the copy at your website and can now say, 'EXCELLENT'; very well stated. I like your argument for withdrawal from Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Somalia, as well as your call for NO WAR on either Pakistan or Iran, neither, nil, fini, NO WAR.
I don't know how the error about 2003, instead of 2004, occurred in the copy of the article posted here, but see nothing at all of any errors whatsoever in your copy.
Quoting from above:
"David Goodner August 10th, 2007 9:24 am
Iwarrior - I agree that we have to seperate the working class from the power elite but we also need to analyze various privileges ...."
DEFINITELY, and again a welcome statement.
Iwarrior - I agree that we have to seperate the working class from the power elite but we also need to analyze various privileges like straight white male privilege, and even the privileges middle-class americans take for granted like air conditioning, electricity, and running water. we need to incorporate these frameworks into our overall critique of capitalism and imperialism because things like sexism and racism form some of the pillars propping the system up.
its great talking with all of you.
Yes, both groups of people in Darfur are Moslem but if memory serves the group who is doing most of the killing the Janwee(sp) are herdsmen - mainly camels, not hunter/gatherers. Their land has completely dryed up due to global warming which is why they are trying to take the land of the farmers. Not that this justifys their genocidal behavior but it does support the point made earlier that economics is usually the basis of actions and racism the justification.
Also, you need to look carefully at the assumption that a higher per-capita means greater prosperity for the majority of people in a country. Remember, that stat includes the incomes of the top 2% who are very, very rich, while most of the rest of the population remain in poverty, case and point Indonesia. See The Secret History of the American Empire by John Perkins.
The Chinese may be paying a very steep price for their prosperity - the possible total destruction of their environment.
"Red blood for Black oil means Green dollars for White people."
I'm not seeing that money and neither are most Americans let alone white people. War and imperialism don't work towards my interests. The powers that be see me and other men as potential cannon fodder for their schemes. And the people are seeing that as evidenced by the falling support for the Iraq War.
I agree that we should pull out of every nation we currently occupy. But the blame for that lies in the hands of the elites, not working people.
Ya'' shud no that my gubbermint iz gonna hav a holiday tuh sell-a-brate my Hollowcost.
Betcha ya iz so prouda me!
WHERE IS OSAMA DUMBYA? THAT'S WHY WE ATTACKED AFGHANISTAN! NOTE:THERE WAS NOT ONE AFGHANI OR IRAQI ON THE DEATH PLANES OF 9/11. WHERE IS OSAMA GEORGE? HINT:HE STILL ISN'T IN IRAQ.
Thanks for your comeback- I was confusing the current conflict with the Second Sudanese Civil War- shows my age!
A note on China though- while there certainly might be some people at the "really bad poverty level" of $2 per day there aren't many these days- overall national gdp per capita is around 5,600 USD these days, or over $15 in income per day. The real story is the disparity between the coastal regions and the interior- Shenzen's at $12,134 or about $34 per day income (this puts them roughly with say Poland or Hungry) vs. say Xining in the interior at $3,330 or about $9 per day. This income disparity is the source of much concern to my Chinese friends and others in the region worried about Chinese instability. It's bad enough that it's happening here in this capatilist country, but most of these people were raised on strict communist egalitarian theory. It would be very difficult to overstate the wariness with which the rest of East Asia eyes the shaky foundation that underlies the Giant Dragon in its midst.
Boy though are you right- Africa is a total mess. I spent a fair amount of time traveling in mostly East Africa in the 1970s as a youth and a more beautiful place on this planet you will never find- Kenya was the poster child of the region and you could walk the friendly streets of Narobi at any time without concern- something you couldn't even do at the time back in our cities. Sad. Very very sad.
Clarity - thanks for your comments.
You are generally right about GroupThink in progressive and other circles.
Darfur is conflict between african muslims and arab muslims. i forget which were the farmers and which were the hunter/gathers. but both groups are muslim.
i'm aware of the international legal definition of genocide but what term do you suggest we use when we are talking about the mass killings of millions of people of color by the west? no more blood for oil...
i was thinking about oil exploration in alaska where the inuit and other indigenous tribes reside. In any case, i think you can make a real argument that the war on terror is a war against indiegenous people.
Globalization has helped push some people in China and India over the hump from extreme poverty (less than $1 a day) to still really bad poverty (less than $2 a day) but that "success" hasn't happened anywhere else, most particularly Africa.
Kemp - as for Ron Paul, yeah i think its great he's calling America an "empire" and calling for an end to the military industrial complex and foreign military occupations but he also wants to do away with the dept of education and income taxes. to me that doesn't make much sense. we need public education, medical, and transportation systems. also, i dont think ron paul is a true libertarian because he's anti-choice in regards to women's rights and abortion.
Dr. Ron Paul for president is our best hope of getting out of Iraq, protecting lives of free people and asserting individual liberty at its place as the primary right of human individuals.
Hey I'll check out that blog sometime- I'm sure you get a lot of different reactions! My point wasn't directed at you, as of course I really know nothing about you- but rather at the progressive community in general. This same Group Think mentality with it's imploding gravitational pull exists in almost all associations of like minded people, and studies have conclusively shown that the groups who are most effective are the ones able to best transcend their own viewpoint and openly challenge their own thinking (ok, you got me- I am a Socratic thinker from a Jesuit University!).
As to genocide we can agree to disagree. Obmaj mentions the tragedy of Darfur- now that is a genocide- with one group dominated by Arab Muslims seeking to destroy the other non-Muslim group. By throwing the word genocide around to try and make your point stronger you lessen its effect in those cases where a clear idea of what's transpiring is most needed.
As to the framing of where we look to drill for oil in "the racist framework of the contemporary global system"- I have to say I think your in the wrong discipline and have to move from Political Science to the dismal science- Economics. While not a Marxist I do believe quite a bit of world history can be shown through the prism of economics.
Back to why we drill where we do- we might remember the words of that great Economist Willy Sutton when he was asked why he robbed banks- he said of course because that is where the money is! The largest drilling state in the nation is Louisiana – they don't care what the color of the people is or if they're indigenous- they just want the oil! It's greed, not racism. And greed, like warfare knows no color boundaries.
The above is not entirely correct as it's not just where the oil is and how much might be there, but also how much it costs to get it out of the ground. Iraq and much of the Middle East is so very appealing to oil interests not just because it has such high reserves of oil, but also because it's so darn cheap to get it out of the ground- in Iraq about $2 per barrel, as compared to a world average of about $15 per barrel. Now do the math on the many millions of barrels of oil per day that are pumped out of the ground! This is why the Middle East is so battled over.
Finally while the world economic system is in need of much restructuring, I suggest you travel sometime to Asia and ask them what they think of the "contemporary global system of neoliberal capitalism" that you feel is oppressing them. From my many travels to China, Indonesia and India I can assure you of these many billions, and man there are a lot of them- the great majority have more optimism about the future and think this system is just swell. In fact in China, where I have spent the most time and where my brother has lived for 25 years, they are certain that this system will lead them to their rightful place at the top of the nations of the world.
Lastly it's interesting that in most of years I never did give much credence to the paternal bad boy theory of history given the likes of such leaders as Catherine the Great of Russia and Elizabeth of GB- but as a father I coached my son's first grade soccer team of boys right next to my friend who coached his daughter's team- Let me tell you anyone who said that boys and girls are the same never did that! The boys were far far more aggressive and combative- and this before the real testosterone has kicked in! I do believe you have something with this one…
When the War Crimes Tribunal hauls in the likes of Bush, Cheney, Powell, Bolton, et al. in 2010 let's make sure that the media enablers of this American genocide join them in the dock.
the second two goals have to do with achieving the first goal, but i smell what you're smoking for sure.
Folks lets not loose sight of what the goals of the power elite entail. I do not believe it is genocide or mass death and destruction, however when that occurs as a result of their actions, they don't care.
There are three main goals in Iraq:control of the oil resources, installing large military bases and maintaining a perpetual state of war. These are all done under the neocon slogan of "spreading democracy" or making America safe from "terror"
We already have somewhere between 700 to 1000 military bases around the world but still there was the "threat" of peace. Anyone remember the "peace dividend" after the fall of the USSR? Perpetual war means unlimited profits for the no-bid military contracts of the likes of Haliburton, Blackwater etc. It also means bribing or cowering most of Congress into total submission, destroying what is left of our Constitution, in short unlimited power and profit for the ruling corporate elite.
I think the Corporate elite have mixed feelings about Global warming, on the one hand it creates more poverty and starvation which means more conflict ie. Darfur which mean more chance to sell arms. On the other hand if their corporate headquarters is located in some Tax haven in the Bahamas it just might get washed away.
I do agree though that we all bear personal responsibilty for our actions. We can decide whether to weild that machete or hide the victems in our cellar, fully aware that it might cost our own lives.
There is another article on this site about Grassroots organizations that gives some hope of combating the Corporate mentality, it is a thought provoking read.
The power-elite have directly or indirectly caused the deaths of millions of people, and they clearly knew before, during, and after of the consequences. They didn't care. They went after what they wanted, used all the violence at their disposal to get it, and gave a great big fuck you to all the people of color that got in their way.
To me that's a "kind of genocide".
i mean do you know where we store our nuclear waste? on indigenous land. do you know where we drill for oil on our territories? indigenous land. whose oil we are going after in the middle east? the indigenous people of that region. We can't deny the racist framework of the contemporary global system.
The West was the best at taking over the world, and that's why the deserve the focus of our criticism. Why am I going to care how violent some tribe in Africa was 3,000 years ago when the contemporary global system of neoliberal capitalism is oppressing billions today?
Interesting how you said that war is the natural state of man. Do you think it is also the natural state of woman? Does the fact that human history since the agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago been so violent have anything to do with the patriarchical and sexist order that ruling men set up?
My blog over at the Des Moines Register (http://blogs.dmregister.com/?author=755) is crawling with conservative posters and I engage them in debate everyday. So I'm not sure I appreciate the group think accusation. It may very well be underinformed.
Clarity, I agree with you 100%. Thank you for your post.
PAUL MAGILL SMITH: You are another one of my "soul brothers" on this site. The very fact that some of us DO bring these subjects up to stir our sleeping brothers and sisters is a good thing. We are the grains of sand that stimulate their "oyster shells" to get to work making pearls of wisdom! I have a dear friend in the Florida Keys who never finished college, but she has such insight into people (she can always figure out what the "bad guy" in the movie is up to way before I can!) and sensed 911 was an inside job, and that Wellstone's plane crash was no accident, etc. You'd think the Florida Keys would welcome such enlightened discourse, but she told me that is not the case these days at all. At a school event she ran into a parent who said after the Minn. bridge collapse, "I'll bet they'll find a way to blame this on Bush, too." Rove's message machine has succeeded in making the boy-king a victim to his deluded, faith-based followers. Truth has a tough time these days, but as it's been said, one candle can put out the darkness. WE are the candles to our nation as it passes through a karmic tunnel, a new Dark Age.
MURIEL: I have studied mystical & metaphysical subjects for more than 30 years and it's my understanding that karma comes on various levels, from the most personal, to group or national collective karma.
"David Goodner August 8th, 2007 1:58 pm
The blog this story originally came from may be viewed here:
http://blogs.dmregister.com/?author=755
..."
THANKS David. I'll definitely make use of the link you provided, and it'll be very welcome to finally have greater coverage; as your reply to or based on my post illustrates.
Right now I'm kinda leaning towards the nonviolent civil disobedience model of social change. The Occupation Project started by Voices For Creative Nonviolence seems to be having some small measure of effect on Congressmen but its slow going.
Imagine if thousands of people schooled in the Ghandi/MLK models of nonviolent civil resistance were occupying Congressional offices, blockading highways and seaports to stop the transportation and shipment of war equipment, and even occupying war production plants and facilities and military installations to grind the war machine to a halt?
Over in Iowa we've been doing alot of occupations, on July 6 we had 20 people busted at the offices of Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA). Both voted to fund the war last may.
check out the photo album I made here:
http://iowa.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2169596&l=ce5d7&id=14812438
We haven't gotten our Senators to publicly pledge to de-fund the war yet, but our occupations and subsequent arrests did get us a 90 minute teleconference call with the Democratic Senator and a promise for an in-person townhouse style meeting soon.
One more plug for my blog: http://blogs.dmregister.com/?author=755
Is this really the truth?
Thanks to all for an interesting read.
4 million Iraqis are either dead, wounded or homeless. 4 MILLION. And the war continues unabated.
Right NOW, an american plane is flying over Colombia pouring toxins on the crops in a vain attempt to halt coca production. The American government is criminally liable for the cancers and birth defects those poisons are causing. Colombia is not the only place America delibrately pollutes.
The question is: What are we going to do to stop this madness?
The War on Terror is as failed as the War on Drugs and the victims suffer the same fate. Americans are inconscienably disconnected. How can we wake them up?
It's already too late, but something must be done to end this bullshit.
Peace to you and yours.
It's horrible that the terms genocide and holocaust apply to the West's occupation of the middle east but the term does seem to fit. that's all i meant by saying i liked the phrase. i dont really like the phrase.
The relationship between America and Israel - and Britain for that matter - is complicated. I'm not sure if I buy the argument that Israeli lobbying groups and special interests dictate American foreign policy. You could make just as strong of an argument that the opposite occurs and we are the ones running the show. It's all about the oil anyway.
I got an email calling me an anti-semetic pig this morning so I just want to put on the record that criticizing the Israeli government is not the same as hating the Jewish people. I'm equally critical of all liberal democracies that brutally occupy Arab Muslim lands with their militaries. How come nobody calls the Left racist towards the American and British people when we criticize those governments?
It's been fun talking with you guys.
Israel and Wall Street. Amply confirmed by the Mearsheimer and Walt Harvard paper:
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011
Israel.
The USA deracinates the Iraqi people from their land.
Why?
Who benefits?
So it's genocide. Fair enough. "Holocaust" ("Burnt Offering") is just the right word to describe the Middle East carnage (as it is for that other major US War Crime, the nuking of Japanese civilians). And the karmic retribution on the USA/Israel will be terrible to behold. And naturally, yes, Bush, Clinton, Cheney, Blair, Howard deserve the death penalty for their crimes (don't forget the planners - Feith, Perle, Wolfowitz, Zakheim et al).
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011
But the liberal attempt to blame all genocide on Whites is both untrue and racist. We "sowed the seeds" of Rwanda, for example, and are thus responsible? Nonsense.
There has to be a point at which the actual wielders of the machete are held responsible, and not the colonialists of decades ago. That's karma - the Sanskrit word means "deeds" or "actions" - the actions that result in punitive counter-action, "just as the wheels of the cart follow the horse" (as the Buddhist scriptures put it).
And what of the New York bankers who funded the Bolshevik Revolution in the USSR? 60 million dead was the result - but somehow that one always gets left off the score-sheet.
http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/rummel/com.art.htm
puck twain,
My philosophical system holds all life priceless. Yes, for several decades now I've known we're killing ourselves, our own. Ecocide is the apt term. The economic paradigm of the last two centuries has killed off half of all species; that's a lot of death. The concept also works for different polities and helps in seeing connections/alliances in death promotion; the case histories of Iraq and Iran are excellent examples. Have you read "Our Stolen Future"? I promted some premed students to read it to get them fired-up about the very huge challenges they face--we all face.
A question: Do genocidalists like Bush, Clinton, Cheney, Blair, Howard, Yeltsin, Rice, Powell, Albright, etc., deserve the death penalty for their crimes? Should the enormity of their crimes cause them to lose their priceless lives?
The term "holocaust" doesn't exclusively belong to the Jewish people. The Native-Americans were victims of aggression by the imperialists and suffered a holocaust before the Jews did.
I agree HOLOCAUST is the proper word to describe the crime the U.S. is doing to Iraqis.
Why is the U.S. still in Iraq if they claim to have made a "mistake" as a result of "faulty intelligence" in attacking and occupying Iraq? They should make reparations and get out as soon as possible. Although a so-called mistake of this magnitude can only be partially rectified, at least it would be a start.
Kem Patrick, where are you? Someone mentioned the travesty, holocaust, genocide of DU usage and you haven't dialed in yet. Still early, though, I guess.
Thanks SiouxRose for your comments, as usual, and your metaphysical perspective.
I especially would like to thank you, David Goodner, for taking the time to not only write a good article, but to also join in on our blogs. I wish more writers would do the same. We have a nice group of regular writers/bloggers on this site, many of us are now friends, and we have gone into numerous subjects in depth arguing the pros & cons on a number of vital issues.
Back to the subject at hand. I seem to recall something in PNAC about de-populating the world by 2 billion people, and another piece about Kissinger being one of the architects of a conspiracy to de-populate the middle east to make acquisition of the oil resources easier. It's a classic 'clearing', much the same as the elite landowners did against the Irish peasantry during the 1840's. The wealthy could have purchased foodstuffs from mainland Europe then, but instead chose to let 2 million Irish die of starvation just so they could clear them off their estates.
How can people like that live with themselves? The same could be asked of BushCo & all the neo-CONS. The cold reality is people without conscience can, and do. Why should decent people have to pay an extreme price for their dementia, though. The brutal truth is they have, and they will, unless we band together to prevent them. It's not an easy task, because they have the military, MSM, and corporate money on their side. We have something better, though, and that is the people, most of whom I believe to be decent & with a conscience. If they only knew...
Sad fact is most of them don't know. Most are caught up in their day-to-day rituals, comfort zone, and trying to eak out a living. Their vulnerable spot is their offspring. If, in any way, you threaten their kids they will rise up like cornered cats/rats, but the sad part is most are unaware of the potential life threatening items such as DU, collapse of the dollar leading to worldwide depression, how quickly climate change disaster can overtake us, and the ramifications of fascist militant imperialism.
Frank Zappa did a song that had a line, "And they said it couldn't happen here..." I can't tell you how many times I start speaking about these things and people look at me like I am completely out of my mind. Most people are so ignorant of the facts (but know everything about every hair on Anna Nicole Smith's head), or so propagandized by our un-patriotic MSM, or inculcated in the belief the government will not do nasty things to THEM, they can't even imagine the horrors the neo-CONS & Zionists have in store. "We have met the enemy, and it is us", because we are brainwashed & gullible.
All is not lost, however. I sense a turning tide because it looks like more & more people are finally coming out of their stupor. Like Lincoln said, "...but you can't fool ALL the people ALL the time". The criminal acts of this administration have become so agregious & overwhelming Americans are now thoroughly pissed off. They will be especially so when 20-40% of our brave warriors come back from our two Gulf conflicts and begin to die premature deaths from DU & toxic chemicals.
We can't afford to wait that long though. We are much closer to getting rid of these stumblebum miscreants in this administration than we were say a year ago, but we must keep pressing the issue. Every chance you have to speak out, write out, or shout out the truth must be taken. We can't back down a bit. Be informed and pass that information along. We must 'take it' to the enemy, and by enemy I mean anyone (Republican, Democrat, or Independent) who is regressive rather than progressive. Politicians are more reactive than proactive, and they damned sure will react when they realize they will no longer be in politics at all unless they start listening to the people & yielding to their stated desires.
Interesting article, David; thank you. I always thought they should have called "Operation Iraqui Freedom" (as they called it originally,
before Bush-the-inferior did his 'mission accomplished' photo-op) "Operation Iraqui Liberation". Then, at least the anacronym would
have been truthful.
But so tragic. So many lives wasted, and for such terrible reasons.
I also agree to the usage of "Iraqi Holocaust". It might inflame some Jewish people who believe they own the word, but that inflammation will also hopefully open debate into the facts on the ground.
Karlof1: I agree word choices are important so I'll challenge you to consider your usage of "death". To me it's not death that is to be considered an evil consequence of a supposed nation or party, but torturous death, unfulfilled life leading to unfulfilled death - that which we all face due to the spreading of depleted uranium which moves us beyond genocide into suicide, and which degrades humanities genetic capacity and life force within atmosphere as we type.
Impeach: start the needed human to human conversation and examination and culture of answers today.
Impeach the behavior of the Iraqi Holocaust!
I, like Mr Goodner, studied International Relations, but at Georgetown University. And I also see the war as a foolish tragedy. But I don't believe the use of such inaccurate rhetoric helps anyone in making their case:
1. Genocide is defined in Webster as "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group "- part of what makes Iraq such a mess is the fact that there are far too many diverse groups in Iraq with different religious, ethnic, tribal, etc. backgrounds. There is no one group targeted for complete destruction for a specific purpose.
2. If the US wanted to kill off an entire people, anyone with any basic knowledge of modern US weapons systems knows we have more than ample ability to do the job completely in rather rapid fashion- no more than a month to kill just about everyone there!
The misuse of these terms to try and help one's position I feel is usually counterproductive- much as the mostly misused term of terrorist or terror has to my mind hurt us by muddying up the waters and not allowing to clearly define what our strategy is or should be.
Finally any objective student of history with a balanced education would know that war and enslavement were the natural state of man the world over and no race or religion had a monopoly on violence. The West and "white" people just had the enlightenment and science so they happened to get better at it- not that others didn't try.
Part of what hurts progressives is getting in too deep with your own Group Think, reinforcing one another in such a way that by it's nature leads to more rigid thinking. This feels great but alienates your possibly correct position from those you seek to affect.
I like the term Iraqi Holocaust.
Just an FYI...I'm an unpaid blogger for the Register's "Young Adult Board" and have next to no clout.
The numbers are so large they are meaningless. Petty arguments over numbers this large are pointless.
The policies that lead to these deaths must be stopped as soon as possible.
What in the world will we say about these war crimes if we do not make an effort to stop the killing and prosecute the leaders who caused this?
Bu$h the inferior has been the leader when we have become a pariah to the world. We deserve to be treated that way.
Siouxrose:
I would say the English too, and would also add the French and Spanish to those having "a debt to EVERY race." It's very difficult to have any respect for the USA once its actual history is known; I often have hard times arguing in defence of the Constitution. And yes, I've contemplated moved overseas. But like Chomsky and others, I think it best to fight the beast from within.
HITLER got nothing on us. We're #1! We're #1!
Yes, it is indeed the Iraqi Holocaust, a term that ought to be used every time the subject of Iraq is broached. I've pushed Juan Cole on this point and think if more did then one of the major bloggers will constantly use the term; this is true of other "Left" media, like Zmag, etc. If Mr Goodner can persuade his editors on this point, it's possible other corporate media outlets will follow suit. The DU issue should also be linked as evidence of a planned Holocaust, no different from knowingly contaminating Native Americans with smallpox infected blankets or destroying their food base--American Bison--as the overall goal is depopulation.
Much absolute evil exists in US history; the current period is no exception, but rather business as usual:
"An AK-47 is his best friend;
"Doing business, the American way;
"Empire ...
Don't forget the deaths of innocent Afghan civilians in those figures!
Consider the fact that American armed forces and their commander and chief have been responsible for the deaths of more innocent men, women, and children in the past five years than all the world's terrorist organizations combined. God bless America.
CATMAN: The dollar would be apt in the color red, yes. WILLO asks about the probability of karmic retribution, and the numbers of the dead and dying are fairly well documented. I am working on a book that explores the metaphysical roots of violence, and it occured to me that America, in particular has a debt to EVERY race. I am not sure if that is also true of England, but I don't think any other nation on the face of the earth carries this dismal designation. To the Black race, the century plus of slavery and the indignities and rampant injustices it carried. To the yellow race, the vast wound of the atom bomb and the Agent Orange/bombing of Vietnam and surrounding areas. To the red race, the theft of the North American continent, added to assaults on indigenous natives all down the Central American peninsula. And now to the Brown race, in this burning inferno that is Iraq and spreading.
When I took Driver's Ed we were taught that even when the brakes were applied the vehicle would continue traveling, 50 feet if it was going 50 MPH and so forth. The analogy is that EVEN if the U.S. came to a full stop in its rabid path of aggression, the MOMENTUM of that which has been created will not be erased. I do believe the country faces karma on a scale that can only be approximated by the wounds of the Civil War. This conjecture is based on prophecy and specific time cycles, and as I made a reference earlier to the alcoholic who gets his wake-up call rather late in life, the fact that generations have come and gone and appreciated a false sense of impunity suggests that when the blowback comes, FEW will be prepared. As individuals, our best strategy is to act with justice, live with respect for simplicity, send donations to good causes, and clear our hearts of the debris of unforgiven thoughts. Peace... I wish for all.
Well my blog that this originally appeared in (http://blogs.dmregister.com/?author=755) is for the Des Moines Register which is a Gannett-owned newspaper and the largest circulation in the state of Iowa.
I asked my editor to print my blog in its entirety on the DMR opinion page but we'll see if they have space for it.
Thank you all too for your kind words and comments. I'll be praying for peace in the Middle East.
good work, David Goodner. i wish you could print this in the MSM. all of the editors (if not all the journalists) know this info (dead, wounded, refugees, the historical background, etc.), therefore it's a moral and political choice not to lead the news every day with the dead, wounded, and refugees. there is some detail given to US war dead, but iraqi casualties ("78 killed in basra", eg) are never put into a larger context (like crime reporting: you can get all the juicy, gory details you want about a specific murder, but criminality as a social issue is never discussed.)
thanks again, david.
It is also appropriate to mention the US genocidal activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than three million innocent people are killed so far. US media talks about Darfur but not what is happening in Congo, because it is the US which is butchering people there.
The main thing that is missing in this article is accountability. The author gives an impression that the US and the West can butcher innocent people for their "national interests" and if there is resistence from the locals for the occupation and plunder, they can simply get out without any accountability for their genocidal activities. When Milocevic, Taylor and others are tried in the International Criminal Court in Hague, why not Bush, Cheny, Rumsfeld, Blair, Howard (of Australia).... When we talk of justice, then these "rogues" and "murderers" should be tried and punished for butchering millions of innocent people around the world.
Yes, I thought about including information on injured, refugees, and internally displaced people but decided to leave it solely in the context of the dead.
frank1569, good point.
this i think is the way we should talk about the iraq war: the long historical context; you could even push this back further to cia manipulations in iran & iraq (mossadegh/hussein), but the iran/iraq war is a good place to start, when the mass slaughter really began in earnest.
and this article does not include refugees: 4 million plus to date, w/60,000 now fleeing every month.
Exactly, because there is what? a couple million refugees plus a couple million more internally displaced persons. and thats only this decade, not counting refugees, internally displaced persons, and injured during the 1980s and 1990s. The majority of the population probably has PTSD or some form of "spirit injury"
When reporting on this, the wounded somehow become invisible. Using basic Army math: 3-5 wounded for every KIA. That's 3-5 MILLION injured in a country with a nearly collapsed medical system. Not to mention the millions and future generations breathing, eating and drinking DU everything. And not to mention also the mental torment suffered by an entire populace...
Half the Iraqi population dead, wounded, or on the run. And counting...
Red blood for Black oil means Green dollars for White people
I think the dollar should be colored red not green.
The blog this story originally came from may be viewed here:
http://blogs.dmregister.com/?author=755
The exact count of Iraqi civilian deaths because of the sanctions is disputed. If you go back to my blog, I added other sources and increased the range of potential casualties. For the most part, the only people claiming 1.5 million dead was Hussein's gov't. The Nation magazine argues less than 500,000 children died. So there is a range to these numbers and not an absolute answer.
David Goodner
University of Iowa Anti-war Committee, an affiliate of both the Campus Antiwar Network and Students For a Democratic Society
David Goodner, I don't know about the sources he uses, but he appears to be OFF in terms of some of his article. The Lancet report reporting around 100,000 excess Iraqi deaths because of this war was not in 2003 but 2004. That difference does not diminish the gravity of the crime that this war is, but the report wasn't of 2003. The report came out around the time of the Nov. 2004 presidential election in the U.S., which makes it easy to remember when the report was published.
With respect to the Iraqis killed because of the criminal economic sanctions on Iraq, 1991-2003, it was not around 1mn but around 1.5mn, 50% higher than Goodman says that the Center for Population Studies purportedly reported. The most common that we read about is around 500,000 Iraqi children, but when the older Iraqis killed because of these sanctions are included, then we also usually get around 1.5mn total.
So, who ever the sources of all of those latter casualty tallies are, they need to get their minds straight. If you count 1.5mn, then don't report other than 1.5mn. If 1mn is the count, then no one should be reporting 1.5mn. Etc.
The Lancet report about the 100,000 toll however, that's of late fall 2004; although, and if I'm recalling correctly, then it was the toll up to June 2004.
WTF (Where's The Filibuster), by DEM? THIS IS US COLONIALISM! AND CRIMINAL WAR OF AGGRESSION!! AND GENOCIDE! ALL complicit in the US government deserve being sent straight to Hague, indeed.
The people responsible for these atrocities should have never been allowed to gain power. They represent the worst people of our generation. A good portion of the electorate who supported these monster's better hope that there isn't such a thing as Karma.
I recall reading statements by jihadis using exactly these sorts of figures to justify acquiring nuclear weapons.
The Islamic extremist(s) said that the West had killed several million Muslims over the last 50 years or so and the only way to "catch up" in the body count was to kill a lot of Westerners all at once with a nuclear bomb.
I am not making excuses for these sort of people.
A murderer is a murderer.
NOTHING justifies murder PERIOD. NO EXCEPTIONS.
And that certainly includes the deaths WE have brought about through military means, sanctions etc.
I just wanted to point out even murderers can count, and they feel that they are justified in whatever it takes to even the score.
all the best
The United States' military and its other governmental agencies must get out of Iraq.
Construction of USian military bases in Iraq and of the sprawling USian "embassy" in Baghdad must cease.
The oil law framed by the corporate thieves of the United States and being imposed upon Iraq must be abandoned. Iraq's oil belongs to its people, to no one else.
After a withdrawl of forces, we must insist on a War Crimes Tribunal if the US is ever to have legitimacy as anything but a criminal state.
Until then, economic santcions and an embargo of the US should be implimented.
Isn't it just dismal to "like the term Iraqi Holocaust"? Personally, I hate the term, but it exactly describes the situation, so the term is apt.
I appreciate your position, but framing and word choices are very important, as I'm sure you'll agree.
Another correct term: Global War for Oil, not "against terrorism."
Concept: The Death Party--a political party whose policies promote death, not life. Examples: US foreign policy since 1776; US domestic policy toward Africans and Americans of African descent. Mnay others exist. As previously noted, the Death Party contains most Democrat and Republican politicos and the great majority of corporate media workers. (If you work for a corporate media outlet and take exception to being a facilitator of Death, then quit your position.)