The following article is making the rounds and one is bound to hear more about it in the coming days...in a nutshell it seems 100,000 civilians (mainly Women and Children...cause saying People just doesn't sound as tear jerking) may be pushing up daises as a result of this grant liberation...now the study admits a few difficulties in gather information. You know...war zone and what not...and one does have to wonder how accurate the numbers are in relation to U.S. Air Strikes...not that I'd be surprised cause it seems the public at large failed physics and forgot bombs explode...in all directions and given Iraqs...well...LESS than rigid building code Tijuana firecracks could probably kill off half a city under the right conditions. Is this tragic? To a degree...since you gotta add in the fact casualties stem from more than just air strikes...it's a violent place so why anyone is shocked people are falling into early graves is anyones guess.
Here's the article.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/10/28/news/toll.html
The funny part about it though is the statement about less people dying before this liberation/distraction/war/whatever the buzz word is for the week.
" Iraqis were 2.5 times more likely to die in the 17 months following the invasion than in the 14 months before it."
Ok now I may nots of gots me ultra fancy book learnin but I can smell someone fucking with numbers. Once you start using shit like that to guage important statistics...one may be less inclined to accept them at face value. Why not say...
" Iraqis were 2.5 times more likely to die in the 17 months following the invasion than in the 5 months before it."
Doesn't have the right ring huh? It SOUNDS fake liek that. They couldn't use 17 cause it wouldn't add up...16 is too close to 17...15 is the mimimum you need to have a saftey net in the numbers...so 14 is the magic number for all this to sound oh so legit. Do they honestly think we're this stupid?
Say what you will and take whatever side you wish but if you start to use the same tricks as those you are fighting against...what are you really fighting for? You've BECOME what you condemn.
Stuff like this litters the net, papers, and just about anything else where statistics are needed...be it roundingup...or scewing numbers based on statistical mathmatics.
That put aside...have civilians been fucked over in Iraq? Yup...is it a tragedy to see innocent kids and mommys get blown to kingdom come by grade A american explosives....fuck no. Why you may wonder? Cause no matter what the case is...war...peace...Fifa qualifiying match...the Butcher's Bill has to be paid...and as much as we like to think it's a cabal of old white people in suits sitting around a Dr. Strangelove table smoking cigars and saying "oh well we killed some people today"...it's not...civilians...non-combatents...are always...and always have been Kids, Women, and the Elderly. It's a fact of life. Unavoidable, unstoppable, and the less teary eyed we get about it the more people will live...because the less emotion involved the better. Not saying oen must be a cold hearted bastard...but ones heart cannot factor in cleaning up a vast mess like say Iraq...think about it...death didn't show up on the heels of the invasion...it was their daily...and many have to remember that in nations like pre-war Iraq...not every death is recorded, cataloged, and put in a lil book...not everyone does mass murder in the german way as it where (Nazi Germany...cause I know some of you get pissy about that).
100,000 dead...I won't be losing sleep, I won't weep or pray for them...cause that would be crueler than their deaths. The world can't start caring about people after they die...
You either do that BEFORE they die or don't do it at all. And lets face facts...no one gave a fuck about these people...from U.S. Sanctions, UN Corrupted Food for oil, Saddam and his mid-east equivalent of Good ole' Boys...and you, me, and the guy down the street. Where were all these anti-war peace loving fucks when the bullets and bombs were not falling but people were still dying? Where was this vast liberal movement for diplomacy and care when it was not working? where was this right wing patriotism when they tried to make getting a blowjob equal a crime like Nixon?
Graves were filling up in Rawanda, Iraq, and now the Sudan... We like to think we care, we like to say we care, and we like to rationalize that because we're informed it makes things a bit better...it doesn't. So don't weep for the dead or use it as an excuse to build up your ideals and political idealogy...too much of our history and problems is built on the bones of the dead ..it's a nasty habit we need to break.
I still sleep good at night though...none of us are Atlas and all...but we can't keep getting all passionate and alive about these important human problems and they just simply talk about what's wrong and why's it's wrong...the price is getting too high for that. Not saying one should join the peace corps or start a revolution...but at the very least...and I mean VERY least...one should be honest about how much they really care about the world around them.
Cause it's pretty plain to see...that the ones people complain about the most...are the only ones doing anything about it.
That said...bring on the next 100,000...and add puppies to those statistics...cute dead stuff always pulls at the heart.
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