The Human Cost of War on Iran

[marmar]

from Consortium News:



The Human Cost of War on Iran
August 23, 2012

Exclusive: As Israel threatens to bomb Iran, U.S. pundits are again pontificating about the necessity of war and opining about military tactics. Left out of their frame is the certainty of mass human suffering, a reality forgotten since the days of the Vietnam War, says former U.S. intelligence analyst Elizabeth Murray.

By Elizabeth Murray


In late 2002, just prior to the launch of the U.S. “shock and awe” campaign against Iraq, I was invited to join a gathering of intelligence analysts at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to participate in an Iraq “war games” exercise. We were assigned specific roles and asked to “play out” various political and diplomatic scenarios that might unfold in the wake of a U.S. attack on Iraq.

A tall, heavy-set Iraqi-American, who was present as an observer and seated beside me on the final day, remarked quietly: “All these people are talking about strategic, political and military issues; no one here is talking about the hundreds of thousands of people — my people — that are going to die.”

His words struck me as profoundly tragic, and the tears welling up behind his dark glasses made me feel suddenly ashamed to be there, aware of the complete absence of consideration for Iraqis. I struggled to find something to say that would console the man, but found myself at a loss.

All these years later, that incident has come back to haunt me as we approach the precipice of yet another deadly war. Will we allow ourselves to be blinded again? ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/08/23/the-human-cost-of-war-on-iran/

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[leveymg]

2. It's not just Iranians who will die in large numbers. We won't be welcomed with candy and flowers.

There's a reason why they've held off on Iran until last, kicking over the other dominoes in the region first.

If we are insane enough to actually do this, the war will be a bloodbath, both in theater of operations and globally and it would last for generations. It'll be the end of what's left of our democracy as we've known it.

[polly7]

3. Kick and thank you. nt.

[Victor_c3]

4. Here is an interesting (sad) statistic

I just posted this on another thread, but in 20th century wars, the ratio of civilians to soldiers killed in war is 10:1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualty_ratio

Having been in a war first hand, I can tell you that the only people who win in war is the rich. It certainly isn't our Soldiers who return home a shadow of what they were as a result of both physical and emotional scars nor is it the civilians in the war zones who bear the brunt of the death.

It's easy to advocate for war when there is no chance that you'll ever have to actually deal with any of the results of it first hand. I wonder how many dead bodies George W. stuffed in a body bag in Iraq or if he gets teary-eyed when he looks at his kids and has flashes of the immages of a dying child he found in a field after a firefight. Nope, he left all that up to people like me who were ignorant enough to volunteer for military service under the belief that they were helping to make the world a better place.

It must be nice to be so far removed from the actual impact of the decisions that you make. I'm not rich so I don't get to enjoy that privaledge.

[idwiyo]

5. K&R

[idwiyo]

6. Kick, more people need to read this