655,000 26 March, 2007
Posted by Zack in Uncategorized.trackback
A new layer of credibility (if you needed one) has been draped on the Johns Hopkins study of Iraqi deaths that concluded 655,000 have died because of the violence unleashed by the U.S./British invasion of Iraq.
655,000.
What causes American activists to pick out one or another world atrocity to rally for? The people of Darfur have activist groups at every University trying to save them. As they should! But the very highest estimate of the death toll in Darfur is 400,000.
Where is the movement to save Iraqis from the mess we’ve made of their country? It’s not the same as the movement to bring home the troops. That movement almost never—maybe, never?—speaks of America’s responsibility toward the Iraqi people. We’ve already squandered hundreds of billions of dollars on development aide mis-adminstered by Bush cronies. Well, we’ve just got to spend hundreds of billions more and this time make sure it actually goes into development and to Iraqis.
The American people would support such spending, if it was presented sincerely and powerfully. American politicians might not know that though.
I wonder if there isn’t some way, now that we have the Intarweb, to allow the Iraqi people to help make the point to us directly?
I’m all for giving a pony to every Iraqi that wants one. I doubt that it will happen though.
The choice isn’t between having competent people act responsibly and pulling out of Iraq. The choice is having the Bush administration continue to run things as they have and leave our troops in the middle of a civil war, or to pull our troops out and have the civil war happen. If it’s coming anyway, and there’s nothing our troops can do except catch bullets, better to pull them out.
Pony? Come on.