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Volume 27, Issue 13, November 04, 2004

Opinion

Congratulations, America

mugZoë Williams
Guest Columnist

Eighteen months ago, the U.S. was convinced invading Iraq would be a great favor to the Iraqis. Soldiers would run in, perform a good old fashioned red, white and blue ass whoopin’ on the bad guys, and Iraq would finally have a democracy (a/k/a free markets and U.S. corporate access to oil).

The Pentagon said it had “smart” bombs that would minimize civilian deaths. Everyone was so confident.

Corporate media has painted a lovely picture of Iraq for us, too. Iraqis were dancing in the streets, Olympic teams practiced soccer fearlessly, terrorists magically popped out of existence, it was so easy to believe life was finally getting better in Iraq.

The only casualties were those of brave Coalition soldiers, peppered with an occasional gruesome beheading, only reminding us why the invasion occurred .

Recently, a study performed by Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and the Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad ripped the image of a liberated Iraq in half.

This study estimated at least 100,000 civilian deaths in Iraq since the invasion. Coalition forces caused 95% of these deaths.

In the British-based medical journal The Lancet, researchers from the study report that air strikes constitute for a majority of the deaths, and that most of the dead are women and children.

Lead researcher Les Roberts summed up the situation in Iraq quite simply, saying, “This isn’t about individual soldiers doing bad things. This appears to be a problem with the approach to occupation in Iraq.”

Where is the media coverage of such devastating news?

This is exactly what inspired the largest anti-war demonstrations internationally, knowing that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis would suffer. Protesters by the millions flocked to the streets begging the United States to rethink this greedy and disastrous plan.

Yet, their voices were ignored, and look at what we are left with.

A country has been torn apart by U.S. helicopters, bullets, and bombs, pouring fire and death over civilians. There have been 100 times more Iraqi deaths than U.S. soldier deaths. Where is the apology? I have to ask, where are the ribbons, memorials, candlelight vigils and “Dateline” specials for these people?

The thought of 100,000 civilian casualties is sickening. I cannot fathom the loss and anger that must resonate in Iraq. This is not a figure to sweep under the rug. One hundred thousand people have died for the U.S. ravenousness. One hundred thousand people died because of a lie.

Congratulations, America; we’ve done it. We have now joined the ranks of past warmongers and murderers. All of our long hard years of imperialism have finally paid off. Our future is now paved with piles of corpses riddled with our bullets and mangled by our bombs.

Iraq is not in the midst of blooming democracy, but a gory and treacherous bloodbath, and it is none but the United State’s to own.