7 Year Iraq War Anniversary: Invisible In The U.S.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

7 Year Iraq War Anniversary: Invisible In The U.S.
posted with permission from: http://sane-ramblings.blogspot.com

March 20th was the 7 year anniversary of the U.S. invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq, yet the U.S. media kept it nearly invisible. No photos, no stories, nothing! It was as if it never happened.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children killed, tens of thousands more severely injured, uncounted children orphaned or are dead from the ravages of war, such as a contaminated water supply, shortages of food and lack of medicine.

Millions of Iraqis have fled their nation, including doctors, teachers, legal scholars, engineers, scientists and others who are the backbone of any society.

4,388 U.S. soldiers killed and more than 30,000 severely wounded, devastating their families. Thousands of children will never know one of their parents or have only distant memories of a mother or a father. And many families struggle financially.

Some soldiers who were brave before they were injured now need all the courage they can muster as they function with brain damage or other severe loss. Courage is also vital to the families who love and care for them. Yet they are all invisible.

As for the U.S.'s allied soldiers, 318 of them were killed. But the killing stopped when their nations withdrew from Iraq and brought the rest of them home safely.

Can the lives of all these people mean so little, that the U.S. media can ignore them? Was there no time for them on television? On radio? In newspapers? Magazines? Were there no U.S. politicians to be questioned and held accountable?

Wouldn't it have been worth interviewing some families of the fallen U.S. soldiers? Couldn't President Obama have said a few words on their behalf? How about asking the Iraqi people what they think?

The media covered what it thought was important such as the healthcare debate, March Madness basketball and celebrities. But victims of the Iraq War didn't make it, nor did the $10 billion a month that War costs the U.S., as the healthcare debate ironically raged partly over the fear there isn't enough money to insure everyone.

But dear reader, there is hope. Although the media largely ignored it, thousands of people marched on Washington for peace as did thousands more in California, New York and elsewhere in the U.S. It is rumored thousands more marched in Iraq.

There are millions of Americans of conscience who care for humanity and want the Iraq and Afghan Wars ended. No government or media censorship can change that and eventually, we who sincerely seek an end to these wars will prevail.

more columns at http://sane-ramblings.blogspot.com
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Bravo, Dick. Truer words were never said.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. 7 Years already...

:cry:

[newspeak]

29. Actually, it started on the evening of March 19th (US)

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. We're at war?

You'd think it would be an important topic.

I only read about it and I never see it.

And the reading has lots of spaces.

We're at war?

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

4. You'd think it would be an important topic of American life.

But sadly, it is not.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. 20 year-olds are dying?

You'd think it would get a blurb.

Weird that it's not.

[Echo In Light]

3. .

[PufPuf23]

5. Institutionalized willful blindness as a society

War criminals and politicians that commit fraud on the Nation should be prosecuted.

[The_Commonist]

6. It's really more like 20 years...

But who's counting?

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

9. You make an excellent point....

We are so used to endless war, it now flies below the radar.

[Solly Mack]

18. Yep

[Carolina]

27. How true

Bush I and Bush II plus all those who went along with them including many Wimpocrats

[tom_paine]

8. Corporate Media has standing orders not to rile the proles.

I used to think that such totalitarian control would have taken thugs with guns, but that's so 20th Century.

21st Century Totalitarian control of the media is managed in a much more kinder, gentler, and Corporate fashion.

But the results are so very similar.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

10. A chilling, yet accurate observation...

Thank you for adding it to the discussion.

[newspeak]

30. No, you got it wrong--see,

it's those poor Soviet citizens who are fed propaganda by government controlled media--we are free, open and are always told the truth.:sarcasm:

[Winterblues]

11. I can say I was shocked but not awed.

I am still shocked that the War Criminals are still walking about free and boasting of their crimes..

[Thothmes]

22. Why, we allowed Johnson and Nixon

to rack up kill counts that make the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan look like childs play. Neither of them ever faced a court for their actions.

[Winterblues]

24. Much different circumstances

South Vietnam was a Country in it's own right just as South Korea is today. It was invaded and attacked by another country North Vietnam which happened to have the third largest Army on the face of the earth at that time. The USA joined South Vietnam in it's defense and was engaged in a Conventional war with uniformed troops and modern weapons. And even at that it was not considered a "War" but a "Conflict" or a "Police Action"

[Thothmes]

25. The move to a major land war in Vietnam

was based on lies no less strident than those of the Bush regime. The domino theory, the Gulf of Tonkin. South and North vietname were artificial constructs after WWII. When it looked like the reds may succeed in winning the entire country, we went to war. 56,000 Americans dead, 200,000 wounded, and untold numbers of Vietnames killed or wounded for lies. No different, accept the political affiliation of the perpetrators.

[Winterblues]

26. You could say the exact same thing for Korea but the South Koreans might disagree.

:shrug:

[Thothmes]

31. Yes the divided Korea is a construct after WWII

the difference is that North Korea armies crossed the 38th parallel with the objective of taking over the entire Korean penisula by force. No lies, no half truths, just shear aggression on the part of the North Koreans. On Edit, I was incorrect. Vietnam was not divided as a result of WWII. It was divided at the 17th parallel by the Geneva accords 1n 1954. This is the agreement that ended the Vietnamese war with the French. The Viet Minh retained control of the North in Hanoi. But almost immediately began operations in the South to lay the groundwork for unification of the entire county. As these guerilla operations became more widespread and successful, the South Vietnames government requested more and more American assistance to resist the
North Vietnames operations in the South.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

12. "There are millions of Americans of conscience who care for humanity and want the Iraq and Afghan...

...War ended. No government or media censorship can change that and eventually, we who sincerely seek an end to these wars will prevail."

Kick!

[Golden Raisin]

13. You're supposed to be

watching "Dancing With The Stars" or other equally important shows to hypnotize/anesthetize you to not think or care about our endless wars.

[WilliamPitt]

14. Not everywhere

http://www.truthout.org/victory-last57767

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

17. Thank you Will...

Your column is beautifully written, and I will pass your column on to the author of this piece. My friend, Dick Kazan has held a candlelight vigil every week for all these years (at many times, alone) and the summaries of his vigils are posted here: http://candlelightvigils.blogspot.com/

Thank you, again, for your noble and human work.

Peace, Jon.

[lonestarnot]

15. +++

K & R!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

16. Hell, it was all but invisible HERE.

:( :cry:

[Individualist]

32. +1

[spanone]

19. the media is too busy tearing Obama down to report on a dreary old war that no one likes.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

20. "The media covered what it thought was important...

...such as the healthcare debate, March Madness basketball and celebrities. But victims of the Iraq War didn't make it, nor did the $10 billion a month that War costs the U.S., as the healthcare debate ironically raged partly over the fear there isn't enough money to insure everyone."

Great point!

[Jkid]

21. For the American corporate media, even though the war is ongoing...there is no story in it.

Just like Katrina, Afghanistan, and Haiti, and basically every disaster that has happened in a foreign country.

[amborin]

23. K&R

[newspeak]

28. yeah, the lying blood bath was started on my birthday

I will never forget--or forget where I was when they started the bombing. I have read that approximately one million men, women and children have been killed, five million orphans--and don't forget Abu Ghraib. And, my SIL has already been to Afghanistan and Iraq, and is scheduled to go again this year. What the Iraq war accomplished is allowing Cheney's oil buddies (remember energy meeting) to have more control of the oil production and further enrich Cheney's former company, Halliburton. Obscene, unconscionable war profiteering and we're paying for it.

[Dystopian]

33. Silently recommended in time....

Now...
:kick:

peace~