If people understood how many Iraqi civilians have been killed at the hands of U.S. forces, people would immediately see that the Iraq War has become counter-productive. The Iraq war has been a campaign of genocide against the Iraqi people, and it has created a humanitarian crisis. It is a Crime Against Humanity and a Crime Against the Peace. The U.S. military presence there has created an environment in which war crimes have occurred on a regular basis against men, women and children of all ages.
When the original "Shock and Awe" bombing campaign began in March of 2003, every major Iraqi city's critical life-support public utility and infrastructure was taken out. This resulted in uncounted and untold deaths of civilians (because, as Tommy Franks said, "We don't do body counts,"). In addition to that, this “shock and awe” bombing campaign resulted in possibly three times the number of civilian deaths due to "secondary" causes: starvation, dehydration, disease, malnutrition, and lack of medical care.
In November of 2004, the United States military bombed the city of Fallujah to the ground. My primary source for this news was the reporting of American independent reporter Dahr Jamail http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com .
The population of Fallujah was estimated at between 300,000 and 350,000. Many of the inhabitants left before the leveling of the city, and conservative estimates reported that as many as 30-35,000 civilians remained. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has recently argued in an article published on July 20, 2007, that as many as half the civilian population was present when the bombing of Fallujah took place in November of 2004. That article can be found at the web address http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3141 . In that bombing, several internationally banned weapons were used, such as cluster bombs, depleted uranium-tipped bombs, chemical weapons, white phosphorous bombs, and 2000-pound bombs. This bombing was identified as crimes of international law, a crime against humanity, war crimes, a crime against the peace, and genocide. As many as 175,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in the U.S. bombing of Fallujah in November of 2004.
http://www.thelancet.com/webfiles/images/journals/lancet/s0140673606694919.pdf
This is a modern-day atrocity that can only be described as a holocaust. The Bush administration is guilty of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
On August 1st, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski was interviewed by KFNX News Talk Radio 1100 host Charles Goyette for anitwar.com. Formerly of the Pentagon’s ultra-secret Office of Special Plans (OSP), the now defunct Pentagon unit that cooked up the false rationale for invading Invading Iraq, Karen estimates that the number of Iraqi civilian deaths is a million. Podcast: http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2007/08/01/karen-kwiatkowski-2/ .
Kwiatkowski says Americans are waking up, Bush may be seriously afraid of jail, and she also talks about Ron Paul, the psychology of the American people, the Pat Tillman incident, and her experiences at the Office of Special Plans. “Government can’t solve our problems,” she tells us. And “certainly, … the government lies.”
On August 10, 2007, the Institute For Public Accuracy ran a "News Release" suggesting that the number of Iraqi deaths at the hands of U.S. forces might be as high as 1,000,000.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0810-03.htm
I maintain that the accurate figure is OVER A MILLION IRAQIS killed at the hands of US forces since the invasion--AND THE CURRENT CONDITIONS IN IRAQ TODAY ARE SUCH THAT THE EXPECTED DEATH TOLL IS BETWEEN SEVEN AND TEN MILLION --BUT IT COULD EASILY REACH AS HIGH AS FIFTEEN MILLION! THIS IS A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS!!! This is a modern-day holocaust. This is genocide.
If people understood how many Iraqi civilians have been killed at the hands of U.S. forces, people would immediately see that the Iraq War has become counter-productive. They would also see that we currently have war criminals occupying the White House. We just have to get the word out –and as citizens, we need to take back our government. As the late Tip O’Neill used to say, “All politics is local.” And “local” is a good place to start --but don’t forget to call your friends in other states. A nationwide concerted effort can raise the awareness of the American people, starting at the local level –and give the people back their government. The world is waiting. The world is counting on it. The time is now.
