If I see one more Iraq news story that lists the human costs

[AliceWonderland]

just as 1000+ American soldiers, I am going to lose it. I read an MSNBC story somewhere here that did it *again*. I am astounded that news stories from major press wires and outlets actually do this. By all means, list the 1000+. But I cannot understand how tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians can be erased from the discussion, like they never existed. Estimates seem to range from 11,000 (low end at iraqbodycount.net) to whatever McLaughlin cites on McLaughlin Group when he says 20,000. The very fact that we don't even have firm estimates on Iraqi dead is part of the story.

I've seen news pieces that will list the financial costs of the invasion and still not talk about civilian deaths.

Some days, scrubbing these human lives from history strikes me as surreal. Other days, it pisses me off. Today falls in the "other" category.

</rant>

[Thothmaninoff]

1. Dead people are depressing

McLaughlin puts the Iraqi civilian toll at 21,200 on his October 1st show, and has stated that he believes his estimates to be on the low side. If you go with the crazy assumption that Iraq was a sovereign country that did not pose a threat, and that we invaded under the false pretenses of our neocon overlords, then I should think we ought to add in Iraqi "military" deaths as well, since these are still more people who have died as a result of a crime against the peace (Geneva Schmeneva). And then there is the present and future death toll from destroyed infrastructure -- water, sewage, medical, etc. -- and let's not forget the depleted uranium munitions we've been raining down on that place since over a decade ago. That's one of those gifts that keeps on giving.

Unless we know about this stuff, and feel really damn bad about it, we will never keep it from happening in the future.

[Bongo Prophet]

2. This is a historical blind spot.

I rant on this often because it bugs the hell out of me.
Human life is valuable whatever the flag--how trite that sounds!
BUT when we allow the death of the OTHER to become invisible, that takes us down a very dark path. Like meat in the supermarket, it is just product and byproduct.

One could call it a Cheney doctrine, since he ordered us to stop keeping records of Iraqi dead in GW1. You know, where we bulldozed miles of trenches full of soldiers, arms stick out...and the infamous highway of death....estimates well over 100,000 if memory serves.

I wish we had to SMELL the death we are responsible for.THAT does not leave memory easily. I know this.
I have thought of this as a protest when the pro-war rallies were all the rage.
A little sour corpse smell might stay with them for awhile.