<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=iso-8859-1"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><blockquote type="cite"><div class="content"><div id="diff-inline-23142"><p><font size="4">Ever More Shocked, Never Yet Awed</font><br>By David Swanson<br>
<em>Swanson will be speaking on this topic in Washington, D.C., on </em><a href="http://davidswanson.org/node/3980"><em>Monday, March 18<sup>th</sup></em></a><em>.</em> <br><em>The following is a brief summary of a much longer, and fully documented, report available at </em><a href="http://warisacrime.org/iraq"><em>http://warisacrime.org/iraq</em></a><em> and being made available in an attractive 88-page PDF at </em><a href="http://www.coldtype.net/"><em>http://www.coldtype.net</em></a></p><p>At 10 years since the launch of Operation Iraqi Liberation (to use
the original name with the appropriate acronym, OIL) and over 22 years
since Operation Desert Storm, there is little evidence that any
significant number of people in the United States have a realistic idea
of what our government has done to the people of Iraq, or of how these
actions compare to other horrors of world history. A majority of
Americans believe the war since 2003 has hurt the United States but
benefitted Iraq. A plurality of Americans believe, not only that Iraqis
should be grateful, but that Iraqis are in fact grateful.</p><p>A number of U.S. academics have advanced the dubious claim that war
making is declining around the world. Misinterpreting what has happened
in Iraq is central to their argument. As documented in the <a href="http://warisacrime.org/iraq">full report</a>,
by the most scientifically respected measures available, Iraq lost 1.4
million lives as a result of OIL, saw 4.2 million additional people
injured, and 4.5 million people become refugees. The 1.4 million dead
was 5% of the population. That compares to 2.5% lost in the U.S. Civil
War, or 3 to 4% in Japan in World War II, 1% in France and Italy in
World War II, less than 1% in the U.K. and 0.3% in the United States in
World War II. The 1.4 million dead is higher as an absolute number as
well as a percentage of population than these other horrific losses.
U.S. deaths in Iraq since 2003 have been 0.3% of the dead, even if
they've taken up the vast majority of the news coverage, preventing
U.S. news consumers from understanding the extent of Iraqi suffering.</p><p>In a very American parallel, the U.S. government has only been
willing to value the life of an Iraqi at that same 0.3% of the financial
value it assigns to the life of a U.S. citizen.</p><p>The 2003 invasion included 29,200 air strikes, followed by another
3,900 over the next eight years. The U.S. military targeted civilians,
journalists, hospitals, and ambulances It also made use of what some
might call "weapons of mass destruction," using cluster bombs, white
phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new kind of napalm in densely
settled urban areas.</p><p>Birth defects, cancer rates, and infant mortality are through the
roof. Water supplies, sewage treatment plants, hospitals, bridges, and
electricity supplies have been devastated, and not repaired. Healthcare
and nutrition and education are nothing like they were before the war.
And we should remember that healthcare and nutrition had already
deteriorated during years of economic warfare waged through the most
comprehensive economic sanctions ever imposed in modern history.</p><p>Money spent by the United States to "reconstruct" Iraq was always
less than 10% of what was being spent adding to the damage, and most of
it was never actually put to any useful purpose. At least a third was
spent on "security," while much of the rest was spent on corruption in
the U.S. military and its contractors.</p><p>The educated who might have best helped rebuild Iraq fled the
country. Iraq had the best universities in Western Asia in the early
1990s, and now leads in illiteracy, with the population of teachers in
Baghdad reduced by 80%.</p><p>For years, the occupying forces broke the society of Iraq down,
encouraging ethnic and sectarian division and violence, resulting in a
segregated country and the repression of rights that Iraqis used to
enjoy even under Saddam Hussein's brutal police state.</p><p>While the dramatic escalation of violence that for several years was
predicted would accompany any U.S. withdrawal did not materialize, Iraq
is not at peace. The war destabilized Iraq internally, created
regional tensions, and -- of course -- generated widespread resentment
for the United States. That was the opposite result of the stated one
of making the United States safer.</p><p>If the United States had taken five trillion dollars, and -- instead
of spending it destroying Iraq -- had chosen to do good with it, at
home or abroad, just imagine the possibilities. The United Nations
thinks $30 billion a year would end world hunger. For $5 trillion, why
not end world hunger for 167 years? The lives not saved are even more
than the lives taken away by war spending.</p><p>A sanitized version of the war and how it started is now in many of
our school text books. It is not too late for us to correct the record,
or to make reparations. We can better work for an actual reduction in
war making and the prevention of new wars, if we accurately understand
what past wars have involved.</p><p><img style="width: 475px; height: 319px;" src="http://warisacrime.org/sites/afterdowningstreet.org/files/iraqbodieslg.jpg" alt=""></p><div> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>
</div> </div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><p>David Swanson's books include "<a href="http://warisalie.org/" target="_blank">War Is A Lie</a>." He blogs at <a href="http://davidswanson.org/" title="http://davidswanson.org" target="_blank">http://davidswanson.org</a> and <a href="http://warisacrime.org/" title="http://warisacrime.org" target="_blank">http://warisacrime.org</a> and works for <a href="http://rootsaction.org/" title="http://rootsaction.org" target="_blank">http://rootsaction.org</a>. He hosts <a href="http://davidswanson.org/taxonomy/term/41" target="_blank">Talk Nation Radio</a>. Follow him on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/davidcnswanson" target="_blank">@davidcnswanson</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Swanson/297768373319#" target="_blank">FaceBook</a>. <br></p></blockquote></div><br></body></html>