Iraqi Children Bear The Burden of An Uncalled-For War
NEW YORK — Looking at photos of Iraqi children maimed by the war makes the conflict unforgettable. Reflecting on the causes that led to that war makes it unforgivable. Slowly but steadily new information is coming out on the effects of the war on children, and how it has affected not only their health but also their quality of life and prospects for the future.
One child dies every five minutes because of the war, and many more are left with severe injuries. Of the estimated 4 million Iraqis who have been displaced in Iraq or left the country, 1.5 million are children. For the most part, they don’t have access to basic health care, education, shelter or water and sanitation. They carry on their shoulders the tragic consequences of an uncalled for war.
“Sick or injured children, who could otherwise be treated by simple means, are left to die in the hundreds because they don’t have access to basic medicines or other resources. Children who have lost hands, feet and limb are left without prostheses. Children with grave psychological distress are left untreated.” That is the assessment of 100 British and Iraqi doctors.
Never mind that according to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483, the U.S. and Great Britain are recognized as Iraq’s occupation powers and as such are bound by The Hague and Geneva Conventions that demand that occupying powers are responsible not only for maintaining order but also for responding to the medical needs of the population. Tragedies like that don’t have parents.
In the meantime, malnutrition levels among children continue to increase, and they are now more than double what they were before the U.S.-led invasion. Iraq malnutrition rates are now on a par with Burundi, a central African country torn by a brutal civil war, and higher than Uganda and Haiti. The number of Iraqi children who are born underweight or suffer from malnutrition continues to rise, and is now higher than before the invasion, according to a report by OXFAM and 80 other aid agencies.
Almost a third of the population — 8 million people — needs emergency aid, and more than 4 million Iraqis depend on food assistance. The collapse of basic services affects the whole population. For example, 70 percent of Iraqis lack access to adequate water supplies and 80 percent lack effective sanitation, both conditions breeding grounds for a parallel increase in intestinal and respiratory infections that predominantly affect children.
“Children are dying every day because of lack of essential medical support. The bad sewage system and lack of purified water, particularly in suburbs, has been a serious problem which might take years to solve,” warns Ahmed Obeid, an official at the Ministry of Health.
At the same time, a variety of environmentally related chronic diseases are emerging among children because of their exposure to environmental contaminants. Many cases of congenital malformations and cancer among children are believed to be the consequence of exposure to chemicals and radioactive materials that have significantly increased during the war. And this without counting what is euphemistically called “collateral damage,” the hundreds of children killed by roadside bombs, during suicide attacks or attacks by the occupation forces.
I look again at the face of an anonymous child, a photograph by Dan Chung for The Guardian newspaper in Britain, his features burned almost beyond recognition, whose sad eyes seem to be telling the viewer, “What did I do to deserve this?” And I cannot but think how miserable those adults are who destroy children’s lives with total impunity.
Despite all evidence, some political leaders continue to insist that the situation is improving, as though the brutal TV images of the war did not exist, as if they were a fantasy invented by evil spirits. The chasm between the people’s view of reality and that of their leaders has rarely been greater.
The editor of The Lancet, Dr. Richard Horton, stated recently: “Our collective failure has been to take our political leaders at their word.” Sen. John McCain, speaking to cadets at the Virginia Military Institute, affirmed that to continue the war is, indeed, to pursue the right road.
And, added McCain, one of the contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, “it is necessary and just.” The above-mentioned facts should prove to him that it is neither.
César Chelala, a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, is the foreign correspondent for the Middle East Times International (Australia).
© 2007 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Those scumbags, who masquerade as people, who are responsible for so much conflict are not going to be successful and there will be no impunity. The only way to ensure that war is eradicated from the planet so that there are no more Iraq type injustices is to eliminate the systems which permit the evil scum of society, which is always a small minority, to gain control of countries. That means getting rid of capitalism because those vile bastards will never be sated until they own everything. One thing is for certain, now that the corporate governments cannot prevent communication between nations, they will never again be able to fool everybody until they can achieve their nefarious ends. And that means the resistance against them will only grow.
It’s funny, and yet strange, how that human detritus always lays claim to having God on their side when they undertake such horrid deeds, when anyone who has faith knows that, if there is a God, He would certainly be working contrary to those morons. Even if there were only Aliens scooting around our little planet in their “Mars Attacks!” type flying saucers you can be sure that they would never, under any circumstances, have anything to do with that evil trash, like the U.S. and their vile sycophants, so you can be sure that the only future for the criminal corporate governments will be shortlived.
There’s only one conclusion left to accurately respond to the above article
The United States of America is now a fascist state.
Definitions of fascism follow-they all fit the politics of this country like a glove.
dictatorial movement: any movement, ideology, or attitude that favors dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism
from encarta
an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government. 2 extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice. Compact Oxford English Dictionary
a political system based on a very powerful leader, state control and extreme pride in country and race, and in which political opposition is not allowed Cambridge Dictionary of American English
corporate state- from One look Dictionary
The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism–ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power Franklin D. Roosevelt
[F]ascism is best defined as a revolutionary form of nationalism, one that sets out to be a political, social and ethical revolution, welding the ‘people’ into a dynamic national community under new elites infused with heroic values. The core myth that inspires this project is that only a populist, trans-class movement of purifying, cathartic national rebirth (palingenesis) can stem the tide of decadence” Roger Griffin
Emilio Gentile sees fascism as the “sacralization of politics” through totalitarian methods.
Robert O. Paxton, a professor emeritus at Columbia University, defines fascism in his book The Anatomy of Fascism as:
A form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.
In a 1995 essay “Eternal Fascism” [11], the Italian writer and academic Umberto Eco attempts to list general properties of fascist ideology. He claims that it is not possible to organize these into a coherent system, but that “it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it”. He uses the term “Ur-fascism” as a generic description of different historical forms of fascism.
The features of fascism he lists are as follows:
* “The Cult of Tradition”, combining cultural syncretism with a rejection of modernism (often disguised as a rejection of capitalism).
* “The Cult of Action for Action’s Sake”, which dictates that action is of value in itself, and should be taken without intellectual reflection. This, says Eco, is connected with anti-intellectualism and irrationalism, and often manifests in attacks on modern culture and science.
* “Disagreement is Treason” - fascism devalues intellectual discourse and critical reasoning as barriers to action.
* “Fear of Difference”, which fascism seeks to exploit and exacerbate, often in the form of racism or an appeal against foreigners and immigrants.
* “Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class”, fearing economic pressure from the demands and aspirations of lower social groups.
* “Obsession With a plot” and the hyping-up of an enemy threat. This often involves an appeal to xenophobia or the identification of an internal security threat. He cites Pat Robertson’s book The New World Order as a prominent example of a plot obsession.
* “Pacifism is Trafficking With the Enemy” because “Life is Permanent Warfare” - there must always be an enemy to fight.
* “Contempt for the Weak” - although a fascist society is elitist, everybody in the society is educated to become a hero.
* “Selective Populism” - the People have a common will, which is not delegated but interpreted by a leader. This may involve doubt being cast upon a democratic institution, because “it no longer represents the Voice of the People”.
* “Newspeak” - fascism employs and promotes an impoverished vocabulary in order to limit critical reasoning.
All the Americans that have bumper stickers that say: ” PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN ” should say: PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN AGAINST THE IRAQ WAR!
please make comments short, they can’t be longer than the main article. Coule of lines will do, otherwise write an article.
Improving?! Relative to what? The number of children dying is higher now than when Iraq was under sanctions which, it may be remembered, caused more deaths amongst children than any other segment of the Iraqi population.
“Conservative estimates place increases in infant mortality following the 2003 invasion of Iraq at 37 per cent,” according to the May 2007 report of the aid agency Save the Children.
U.S. ‘liberation’ is a truly wonderful gift to future generations — if any survive, that is.
peerooz! The efforts of the U.S. “secret services” on the net is geared to produce voluminous posts because that, according to their limited intelligence, overwhelms progressives and muddles their thinking capacity. If you checked the history of posting on this site you might find, since I’ve been posting here, that the secret services have been increasing their presence here and have begun making extremely long posts that have no core idea. That is because those scumbags follow me everywhere, and not just in cyberspace. Unfortunately, we’ll just have to put up with that human defecation for a little while longer. Also unfortunately, that costs a bit more in site costs, but I’m confident someone will donate sufficient funds to cover the frivolous posting by those anti-social dregs of society.
Romney is not alone in being an example of obscene hypocrisy.
During a debate, he was asked one of those impossible questions where they are supposed to describe their 2,000 word opinion in ten seconds.
They were each asked whether individual rights or security was more important for a U.S. president to care about.
Romney answered something to the effect of: rights are important, of course, but the most important right a human has is the right to be alive, to live.
And yet he (and others like him on both sides) believe it was okay to take that right-to-live away from tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children of Iraq.
They were all willing to steal, in the night and in the light of day, that most basic human right-to-live. They violently snatched it right from thousands of innocent Iraqi children and their families, shamelessly using an unprecedented pre-emptive attack based on lies, and on a drumbeat-crescendo of fear.
I’m with my father-in-law: all U.S. political positions should have very radical term limits. At any given moment in U.S. history, the majority of politicians are entrenched and out-of-touch with true American values. They should serve their country (not themselves and their donors), and then go back to civilian life, allowing other true Americans to take office and serve for the same short term (or whatever that might look like.)
jmacneil..1:39 PM….May I ask (if yours is not meant to be a facetious remark..sometimes, I swear I cannot tell) on what fact do you base this idea of a “secret service” influx of posts?
jmacneil, what I meant was that not too many people have the time or patience to read long comments, I don’t and never did. Still I like to hear the summary of your opinions. That is why I like for people to keep them short.
Well, willybill, while I do have a vibrant sense of humor, I sure hope you don’t think I’m employing it when I refer to the invasion of the secret service to this site. I monitored this site for a while before I began posting and in that evaluation period almost all of the posts were of a normal length and were thought provoking. But lately, the posts, especially those which follow mine, have become rambling diatribes which sometimes exceed the original article in length by a factor of two or more.
“Two Million Iraq Deaths,
Eight Million Bush Asian Holocaust Deaths and Media Holocaust Denial” [Excerpt]
By Dr Gideon Polya
07 October, 2007
IT GETS WORSE. The total death toll in the Bush I and Bush II Asian Wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon) now totals 8 million (EIGHT MILLION as summarized below (for a detailed and documented breakdown see “United State Terrorism. 8 million Deaths & Media Holocaust Denial: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17139/42/ ):
1. US-backed Apartheid Israeli occupation of Lebanon (much of the 1978-2006 period) [0.07 million] – 1978-2000 excess deaths in Lebanon totalled 60,000; about 10,000 violent killings by Israelis or Israeli surrogates occurred in the period 1978-2006.
2. US-backed Apartheid Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza (1967-2007) [0.31 million] – 1957-2007 excess deaths in the Occupied Palestinian Territory totalled about 0.3 million; about 10,000 Palestinians were violently killed (5,000 in the 2000-2007 Second Intifada period alone).
3. US Gulf War (1990-1991) [0.2 million] – an estimated 0.2 million violent Iraqi deaths due to the Bush I Gulf War.
4. US Sanctions War (1990-2003) [1.7 million] – an estimated 1.7 million Iraqi excess deaths occurred in the period 1990-2003 under the Bush I-Clinton I-Bush II Sanctions; the number of under-5 infant deaths in this period totalled 1.2 million (roughly 90% of these deaths were avoidable).
5. US Afghanistan War (2001-2007) [3.2 million] - excess deaths from UN Population Division data total 2.5 million; however excess deaths determined from under-5 infant deaths and dividing by 0.7 total 3.2 million (see “Layperson’s Guide to Counting Iraq Deaths” on MWC News: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/5872/26/ ).
6. US Iraq War (2003-2007) [2.0 million] – 1.2 million post-invasion violent deaths (from the latest UK ORB survey) plus 0.8 million post-invasion non-violent excess deaths (from UNICEFunder-5 year old infant mortality data; see #5 above).
7. Global opiate drug-related deaths due to US actions [0.5 million] - 0.1 million people die each year around the world (0.6 million over 6 years) from opiate drug-related causes. Accordingly, about 0.5 million have died avoidably since 9/11 from opiate drug-related causes due to the UK-US restoration of the Taliban-destroyed Afghan opium industry from about 5% of world market share in 2001 to a current 93% (see UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, 2007 World Drug Report).
We can thus assess the human cost of the Bush I and Bush II Asian Wars at 0.06 + 0.31 + 0.2 + 1.7 + 3.2 + 2.0 + 0.5 million = 8 million.
Yes, peerooz, that is exactly why I wish to frequent this site, because there are opinions expressed here which reflect the best that humanity can offer. The best opinions are able to be expressed succinctly, but to think that the governing class would ever ignore such frankness is not realistic. The best plan is to expect such interference and to accomodate it.
Radioactive Ammunition Fired in Middle East May Claim More Lives Than Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Sherwood Ross
Global Research, November 22, 2007
opednews.com
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7410
By firing radioactive ammunition, the U.S., U.K., and Israel may have triggered a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East that, over time, will prove deadlier than the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan.
So much ammunition containing depleted uranium (DU) has been fired, asserts nuclear authority Leuren Moret, “The genetic future of the Iraqi people for the most part, is destroyed.”
“More than ten times the amount of radiation released during atmospheric testing (of nuclear bombs) has been released from depleted uranium weaponry since 1991,” Moret writes, including radioactive ammunition fired by Israeli troops in Palestine.
Moret is an independent U.S. scientist formerly employed for five years at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and also at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, both of California.
Adds Arthur Bernklau, of Veterans For Constitutional Law, “The long- term effect of DU is a virtual death sentence. Iraq is a toxic wasteland. Anyone who is there stands a good chance of coming down with cancer and leukaemia. In Iraq, the birth rate of mutations is totally out of control.”
Moret, a Berkeley, Calif., Environmental Commissioner and past president of the Association for Women Geoscientists, says, “For every genetic defect that we can see now, in future generations there are thousands more that will be expressed.”
She adds, “the (Iraq) environment now is completely radioactive.”
Dr. Helen Caldicott, the prominent anti-nuclear crusader, has written: “Much of the DU is in cities such as Baghdad, where half the population of 5 million people are children who played in the burned- out tanks and on the sandy, dusty ground.”
“Children are 10 to 20 times more susceptible to the carcinogenic effects of radiation than adults,” Caldicott wrote. “My paediatric colleagues in Basra, where this ordnance was used in 1991, report a sevenfold increase in childhood cancer and a sevenfold increase in gross congenital abnormalities,” she wrote in her book, “Nuclear Power is not the Answer”(The New Press).
Caldicott goes on to say the two Gulf wars “have been nuclear wars because they have scattered nuclear material across the land, and people—particularly children— are condemned to die of malignancy and congenital disease essentially for eternity.” [Excerpt]
jmacneil..2:15 PM..Thanks for that clarification. So, would I be correct in assuming the purpose is to disrupt the flow of ideas…?..last question…sorry for the inquisitiveness. I’m inflicted with that disease of “havingtoknow”.
All I ever hear about is the starving people in Africa. I feel bad about that, but I think we owe the Iraqis something, don’t you? I mean, we didn’t attack any country in Africa and we DID declare war on and attack Iraq, so we’re responsible for the tragic aftermath.
It’s unbelievable that the war criminals running the U.S. continue to get away with their crimes. Iraq is a young country in that much of their population are under 18. It’s heartbreaking that they have to pay the price for greedy warmongers.
I would only add, to the previous 2 posts, that I continue to be disgusted and appalled at the Bu$hco’s arrogance and denial; suitable for as inpatient at an asylum for the criminally insane…
simonhhh November 23rd, 2007 2:37 pm — suitable for as inpatient at an asylum for the criminally insane.
I’d settle for ‘extraordinary rendition’ to Iraq. I’m quite confident that numerous bereaved parents there would take care of the rest in an appropriate manner.
Well, willybill, if you were a moron or an imperialistic stooge, which is to say an accessory to crimes against humanity, you might think in that vein, but if you were a person of conviction who valued human society and scientific advancement, then you would believe in the advancement of society acording to humanistic values. Just, exactly, which are you?
Uncalled-for is a powerful descriptor for that war, and all wars really. It makes a good slogan: UN-CALLED FOR WAR.
Another thing. We need to start setting a goal: Reparations for Historic European-American Hegemony And Slaughter. Iraqis, Vietnamese, African-Americans, Women, Native Americans and many more VICTIMS OF THE BEAST CAPITAL.
Consider carefully the relative implications of this path versus the path of “dear leader in pearls” and her network. When we shove all their garbage off the table to clear way for our reparations it sends the obvious message of our priorities. Human solidarity is priority number one. Capitalism is dead last. Anyone else feel like this is a good order of priorities? What about our “dear leader in pearls”? Is she going to sponsor our priorities? Or is she going to sponsor the priorities of the capitalists who wish to crush our will, control us, rule over us?
Let’s have the debate right here, right now. Are we going to prioritize solidarity? Or are we going to prioritize capitalism? It’s time to choose, people. It’s time to get off the fence.
Another good slogan: AMERICA, GET OFF THE FENCE.
jmacneil..I simply asked if you believe that the purpose of the posts from the secret service is to disrupt the flow of ideas. I’m only trying to understand and do not quite understand why you find it necessary to even ask about my character or my motives. If my motives are corrupt, would I give you a straight answer?
America’s religious leaders and millions of their followers believe abortion is murder but killing innocent civilians in an unecessary war of aggression is perfectly acceptable. These people have a warped sense of morality.
rtdrury, you make a valid point. The success and the continuance of the human race is dependant on the interdependance of all societies while maintaining the individualness of the races and their heritage. The key to sustainability and progress is cooperation among the races, because each has their strengths and it is only by employing all facets of human civilization that we will truly approach the pinnacle of intellectual development, which, needless to say, encompasses the human rights of each individual which are inherent to any member of the planetary society.
peerooz November 23rd, 2007 1:08 pm
please make comments short, they can’t be longer than the main article. Couple of lines will do, otherwise write an article.
Agreed.
Like anyone reads them! I scroll past long posts, figure anyone that long winded needs attention.
Remember when the ReTHUGS got pissy at Bush being compared to Hitler? They were right, it was unfair.
Bush is much, much worse!
After reviewing my comments above, I decided that another factor should be discussed-the attendant apathy that all totalitarian governments inculcate in their citizenry.
This quote best describes the situation:
“Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her August claims, have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing,
and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without
the awful roar of its many waters.”
“This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” —Frederick Douglass
Almost 98% of Americans are not even bothering to stand up and be counted as a civil disobedient; the current regime (all of the administrations since FDR’s) has gone to great lengths to subvert all forms of effective resistance. I predict that this present cultural atmosphere of ineffective resistance will continue on to the end of the lifetimes of most of the readers on this website.
We could change that course; Frederick Douglass’ words would be a good place to get a primer of effective resistance started.
Bush to anyone who’s still listening: “Der’s chil’dn in Iraq? I thought dare was just dem Shia folk and dem Sunni whatchama… whonow… people! Sunni people!… Peoplessss. Chil’dn too, huh? Well al-ight then. We support the chil’dn, yes we does.”
The tragedy has just begun to rear its ugly head. Infant death rates of 37%, or more than one of every three. Then how long do those who survive live after they reach the age of three or more?
Sorry for any who may be offended, but DU is killing the children. they die from any of several maladies, but the causes of the maladies are often initially caused from
radiation poisoning. There is no way to avoid it over there, for the children whose immune systems are not fully developed yet, to the adults who brought them their life. Everyone there is inhaling DU daily and over time, it will kill any living thing.
http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de/background.htm
I sincerely hope that the entire Cheney/Bush crime family burns in hell.
Even Laura?
Who you makin fun of Frank, Bush or people who supposedly speak like that?
Wow!!! What a thread. jmacneil—-While I am guilty of posts that exceed the attention span of many here, I must protest the linkage between long posts and secret service inflitration. While I am smiling as I write this, I honestly cannot tell from your series of comments, if your tongue was just struck in your cheek, or if you really mean what you say.
willybill—-I have read your petition and it is a laudable effort. Sorry I have not said it before. It deserves some acknowledgement. You are running into the wall here—- of activist fatigue–not unlike donor fatigue. Most of us are on the same page–at least reading the same book, but there is still allot of disagreement being voiced that seems to preclude agreement on action. Still, CD is a site with allot of very smart articulate people. hang in there, my friend, and do not under any circumstances, lose your ideals.
“Children are dying every day because of lack of essential medical support. The bad sewage system and lack of purified water, particularly in suburbs, has been a serious problem which might take years to solve,” warns Ahmed Obeid, an official at the Ministry of Health.
Wow, Bush HAS created a mini-USA in the Middle East!!
A great one Canuky. ___ PERFECT.
Some people call the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 a genocide. What will the world call the massacre of so many more Iraqis? Christianity or just business as usual?
As a graduate of the Oral Roberts University I reject this message as false and farfetched.
You’re joking?
kalia, as a graduate of the Oral Roberts Univesity, why are you reading posts on this website?
starofthesea…Thanks for your encouragement. May we ALL persevere and be victorious even though the deck has been stacked against us through many years. Pax et Veritas!
Kalia was joking pet.
“Some people call the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 a genocide. What will the world call the massacre of so many more Iraqis? Christianity or just business as usual?”
It _is_ ‘business/banking as usual’ (but leave ‘christians’ out of these particular-examples in the ME) — the Armenians were primarily-Christians, themselves…but killed-off by the same-folks [the Crypto-Jewish ‘Young-Turks’] — for the exact-same Zionistic-rationale of ‘what’s good for Israel is acceptable regards all-others’. [This, after also-Zionist Russians spurred-them into a ‘rationalizing’-Revolt for separatism — much like the Israeli/American/Iranian-’games’ lately, abusing/manipulating the Kurds]
Crypto-Jews masquerading as Muslims then (just-prior to Ataturk, another Sabbatean yo-yo in sheep’s-clothing), or, neo-Cons masquerading as Americans now (or their willing co-conspirators — with Oil/Defense-greed/’Interests’ paving their impetus to adopt this ‘holy’-charade as their-own [or is that ‘Crusade’?])…what’s the diff?
Christians were way-involved with far-greater Genocides in N&S-Americas (and several in Africa, and in Asia…but ‘who counts?’), and may have developed their-own ‘taste for genocide’ — but, let’s keep the Scorecard straight/accurate, or “ya can’t tell the Players”…
Children always do suffer during times of war.
Chelala says: In the meantime, malnutrition levels among children continue to increase, and they are now more than double what they were before the U.S.-led invasion.
That is saying something considering what it was like before the war.
Chelala says: “Children are dying every day because of lack of essential medical support. The bad sewage system and lack of purified water, particularly in suburbs, has been a serious problem which might take years to solve,” warns Ahmed Obeid, an official at the Ministry of Health.
Actually, that was one of the reasons the Mennonites and the rest of the world doubted Bush’s claims of WMD. The US would not let in materials that could have been used to rebuild water treatment plants blown up last time because some of those materials were considered to be “dual use.”
BTW - in your opinion, are child soldiers victims or are child soldiers murderers who should be tried in adult court for their crimes?
We may be talking about 9 or 10 year olds!
IMO…whatever you ‘do’ to child-soldiers should be ‘done’, in spades, to those who arm-them, and those who set the stage for the conflicts they participate-in…
This ‘War’ surely puts paid to any idea that we are any longer the Good Guys. Think what you like, we have been taking from others to suit our greatness since the first ship got to the New World. Pillage, Pox, Lies and Misery are America’s gift to the world.
Veteran ‘66-68
Ditto! Thank you, John Freemen and all veterans of our inner-cities. Our gift to the world will be re-paid many times over…It’s a natural law (Karma) and I hope that those who are familiar with war, racism anywhere will be ready to recover humanity innocent children, widows, and what ever is left of our democracy.
not much of this is new. what is so infuriating is that so few people either don’t know about the condition of Iraqi children or don’t care. even peace activists and anti war people don’t care enough, or the idea inflicting such cruelties on these innocents for another year and a half would be unthinkable. The fate of these children must not depend on the stupid u.s. election system. it must be stopped now. we need to mount a mass movement and general strike- anything we can think of to stop it now.
simonhhh, thanks for the informative posts and especially for mentioning Helen Caldicott and her work, www.helencaldicott.com
And thanks also to KEM for consistently bringing up the DU problem. These issues should be front page news, but they won’t be until it’s too late.
REBELNOW,
So true, so devastatingly frightening:
EQUATION_OF_GRIEF = (Missile Envy) * DU^ (1DtenT)
where an “ID ten T error” is a form of stupidity that becomes obvious when one uses the number ‘10′ for the written word ‘ten’ . . .
Namaste
The NYTimes and CNN are both spreading “the surge is a success, Iraq is calming down” bullshit, and since there is a great Iron Cordon now between the citizenry and the mediapetrolmilitocracy, between the Ministry of Truth staffed by stenographers and the real world, the ‘candidates’, except of course for the ‘unelectable’ oens, knowing that the deaths of US victims don’t count, only deaths of US stormtroopers, will trim their sails accordingly.
rebelnow November 24th, 2007 9:27 pm
Appreciate your kind remarks…Like the majority of the people posting here; we continue to be horrified by the human tragedy unfolding in Iraq, especially the damage being done to the children. I only hope a special hot place in hell is reserved for Bu$h and his cronies..
Yeah, right. Like that moron Bush has anything to do with it. One thing is for certain, the true instigators and the accessories to the mass murders are not going to be awarded impunity this time.
peerooz: “please make comments short, they can’t be longer than the main article. Coule of lines will do, otherwise write an article.”
i disagree with that. some of the best posts are long ones. thaddeusstephens’ post on different definitions of fascism was helpful. there have been some trolls here at CD, however, and I DO wonder whether some of them have been on the payroll of a Scaife foundation or performing domestic psy-ops for the Homeland Defense department.
i’ve heard some outstanding coverage on Flashpoints and Democracy Now RE US targeting of hospitals and ambulances in Fallujah and elsewhere, with no power or supplies to operate hospitals, of the 1000’s of premature C-sections performed prior to the US invasion because the Iraqis knew the cost to children of the US’s impending ME genocide. though the israelis, as always, have given us a head start in such matters.
If those secret service scumbags continue to abuse the privilage of posting to this progressive site then maybe it would be a good idea to limit the posts to a specific size. There is a particular site from Venezuela which limits the postings to 800 characters and while I would think 1000 characters to be more utilitarian, any such restriction would benefit the true progressives if it limited the amount of government pollution.
I dunno, whenever one of the neo-cons posts, it stands out fairly well and the replys’ are ususally a good learning tool. I have learned much from reading such debates. If a long blog appears that I don’t like, I just scroll on by.
I will agree that some of those liars are well trained on how to present their issues well. There s always clues of where they are really coming from.
The whole world bears the burden of an uncalled war. Those most responsible for it need to be tried and convicted, and we need to find a way to make sure that nothing like that will ever happen again.
Where is the PEROOZ comment, it must have been a doozey.
Part of the original war plans for Iraq included knocking out their power, water, and sewage treatment and their medical facilities, which could cause a million or more deaths by diseases such as cholera and typhus and leave a weakened and sick Iraq to be easily mastered.
Oh, what a wonderful country we’ve become!
KEM PATRICK November 25th, 2007 11:35 am
“…There is always clues of where they [neocon plants] are really coming from…”
Hey Kem once again you are spoton..I came across a plant the other day, denying the Iraq holocaust, pretending and defending the “Iraq Body Count” website gave accurate figures were right..Yeah right like 80,000 dead Iraqis over 6 years is the right figure!@#$##$ Maybe like one million and 80,000 is closer to the truth.
But this guy stood out like the nose on your face for being shonky.
PS: Keep well Kem.
We do have some new ones? They just keep changing their monikers. They come and go, but it’s usually the same liars. Thank you for the well wishes. ___ Old guys need them.