An article in today's Washington Post: Iraqis Say Civilians Killed in U.S. Raids.
Well, imagine that!
I didn't trust body counts 35 years ago from the Johnson Administration and I have no greater faith in them now. The counts themselves may well be accurate, but the definition of "insurgent" is "anyone we kill." Especially when one is doing the killing from the air in crowded metropolitan areas, it defies reason to suppose that all of the bodies are those of enemies.
There is a humanitarian issue here, of course, but the real problem with branding as insurgents anyone killed in a riad or bombing is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Every time you kill or maim and inocent bystander, you create potential insurgents out of an entire extended family.
As long as we are there, we have to fight the insugency, and as long as we fight the insurgency, we will inevitably kill or injure people who are not a part of it. But, it would be nice if the US started to admit publicly that there is appreciable collateral damage every time the stage one of these operations; to take some time and effort to determine who was who; and to apologize, try to console and/or compensate the unintended victims.
2 comments:
...and explain to Americans, Iraqis, and the World why the collateral damage is justified.
I would sure love to hear an explanation.
Short and sweet piece, Bill. Nice work.
I must go for the night...wish I could spend more time, but I have to pack so I can head East to pass the weekend in a big city with a couple boys from Ohio...
I understand the personal stake you have in all of this, and I will be so bold as to suggest that I have some inkling as to how you feel given that stake. We should never have gone into Iraq, and we should (have) held accountable the people who took us there. But there is nothing anyone can do now to "unring the bell." Given the situation we face, the goal the armed forces are pursuing today in Iraq (and Afghanistan) is one worth pursuing and (this is easy for me to say, I know, but true nonetheless) worth killing and dying for.
The goal may be impossible to achieve. But, I think we have to still try.
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