When my daughter recently asked why our daily newspaper only updates the number of Americans killed in Iraq, at first I fumbled for an answer. Somehow managing an air of assuredness, I told her that no one really knows how many Iraqis have died, which, I suppose, is a half-truth. I could not admit the whole truth, that the countless Iraqi dead are only countless because America does not bother to count them.
Over the past four years, how many Americans have given thought, like my daughter, to how many Iraqis have been killed as a result of this profoundly misbegotten war? Truth is tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died in the rubble of our misdeeds, along with nearly thirty-six hundred Americans. That America still seems unaware or simply unbothered, blithely evoking the memory of our own catastrophic loss almost six years ago as justification, has led the global community to conclude that to Americans, non-American life must be cheap.
Such a conclusion is understandable. Killing others for the sake of one’s own security does assume their lives have lesser value. As much as Americans might recoil at this suggestion, our collective oblivion to the toll this war has taken on everyday Iraqis only confirms its veracity.
No matter our intentions, when we kill the innocent, we become the enemy, and the ranks of those who wish to do us harm swell in turn. And with each civilian humiliated or killed, the intensity of their hatred and fervor grows. With every passing week the war in Iraq allows an elusive and inexhaustible counterinsurgency to claim further justification for its own inexcusable violence and crimes.
Throughout the Islamic and even the Western world, well-educated and thoughtful young Muslims now liken America to Nazi Germany. To many Muslims young and old, democracy and liberty have become synonymous with military occupation, the physical and sexual abuse of prisoners, and the death of civilians. Since our invasion, extensive and repeated international polling in Muslim countries reveals that there has been a drastic increase in the number of people across the world convinced America is their enemy.
How does this make us more secure?
In military terms, this war has been a recruiting sergeant for the very forces of terror our leaders sought to destroy. Rather than controlling terrorism, this war has licensed it, and has endangered rather than enhanced our national security. Iraq itself has become the new Afghanistan, even as recent Taliban advances pointedly demonstrate that we have failed to completely secure the old Afghanistan.
The unprovoked and unwarranted invasion and conquest of Iraq diverted our attention and resources from our proper course: clearing out every terrorist haven – which Iraq was not – and capturing and bringing to justice every terrorist responsible for September 11. Common sense, that one should not start new wars when others are unfinished, was ignored. Rather than chase bin Laden and al-Qaeda to the ends of the earth, we have instead chased our nation’s fortune into the mouth of an omnivorous and never-ending war.
(Conspiracy theorists, spare me your invectives. An administration that with one breath you would curse as being more stupid than stone, the most incompetent in American history, with another breath you would congratulate as being so brilliantly devious as to pull off the greatest and most complex and sophisticated conspiracy in human history?).
Nothing of vital interest to the United States necessitated this misadventure. All justifications for going to war in Iraq save that Saddam was a brutal tyrant have proven vacuous. This war was not thrust upon us; we chose it.
Our continuing presence in Iraq is each day not only generating more terrorists, but also diverting resources from more urgent needs at home and elsewhere abroad. America is draining its Treasury of well over a billion dollars a week fighting every prospective terrorist to death in Iraq – a prescription for endless war – that might otherwise be spent here at home improving our national security by fortifying our cities and our ports, and protecting our people against poverty, ill-health, ill-education, and the threats of disaster natural and manmade.
It is long past time for this gigantic distortion in our national priorities to be called to an end. This war that our leaders have concocted has sapped our military strength, our credibility, our economy, our disaster preparedness, our morale, and our moral standing in the world. It has increased the threats America faces, and reduced the military, financial, and diplomatic tools with which we can respond. It is time to bring our troops home.
It’s getting too late to look ugly. Even our military leaders now admit that the insurgency cannot be defeated by force. Our military is strained to the breaking point, and is increasingly unable to meet its recruiting goals. It is time to bring our troops home.
Americans themselves have gone from thinking the war was not a mistake to thinking that it was. The most recent polls show a record 67 percent disapproving of the President’s handling of Iraq, while 63 percent said some or all U.S. troops should withdraw. And in Iraq, the vast majority of Iraqis, even the majority Shiites, tell pollsters that they would like to see an end to the American occupation of their country. It is time to bring our troops home.
However, a massive American army occupying a nation half a world away cannot be withdrawn “immediately”. America must establish a clear and short timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, and then immediately halt our construction of permanent military bases and begin to reduce our military presence.
And America should not be seen as withdrawing, wounded, into its emotional carapace. A withdrawal from Iraq must be coupled with new regional and international diplomatic initiatives that will, in addition to the withdrawal and to the reinvestment of resources here at home, make us stronger and more secure.
Todd Huffman is a pediatrician and writer living in Eugene, Oregon. He is a regular contributor to many newspapers and publications throughout the Pacific Northwest.
It's tough to argue a point with anyone who still insists on labeling those who disagree with the official explanation of anything as "conspiracy theorists"; thereby reducing their credibility to zero before the discussion can even begin.
Frankly, I'm sick and tired of reading article after article on supposedly progressive web sites that continue to criticize the Iraq occupation and bash Bush, without ever making an attempt to see the bigger picture of what is happening. It's really quite easy to add two and two, as long as the psychological barriers that afflict those who have intransigent world-views are overcome.
To say that the administration is too stupid to have orchestrated 9-11 misses the point completely. It's not a question of incompetance or stupidity that got us into this mess. If those who want to write about such things would spend a little time doing their homework, they'd see that this occupation was planned way before Bush ever arrived; that Bush and his cronies are NOT the real decision makers of foreign policy; that the game plan has nothing to do with finding Bin Laden, and everything to do with oil and empire; that the pretext and justification for this abomination was 9-11; that 9-11, based on a mountain of corroborating evidence about virtually every aspect of the events that day, was an inside job; and that, historically, governments - including our own - have perpetrated such acts to further higher, hidden agendas.
Want to answer your kid's question honestly? Tell him the Truth, even if it embarrasses you. Tell him that newspapers and TV evening news lie. Tell him that it's hypocritical to write for a progressive web site, while still embracing the lies of the mainstream media, which would never run your articles. Tell him that, unless he's taught early on, he'll be lied to, manipulated and controlled throughout his entire life.
by
Bill Cain (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 284 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 10:03:58 AM
I don't see that this article is about the truth of what happened on 9/11, brief mention that that is given; rather it appears to about the taking of innocent lives which our government doesn't give a hoot about. Did I miss something here?
by
Daniel Geery (26 articles, 58 quicklinks, 121 diaries, 690 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 1:07:55 PM
Yes, the bigger picture. If the government "doesn't give a hoot", as you describe it, about innocent lives being lost in Iraq, do you think it would give two shits about 3,000 innocent lives lost in New York? It's called connecting the dots and understanding what the Christ is happening, instead of slicing and dicing the ramifications of every lie and crime this administration has told and committed since 9-11, while never thinking about its biggest lie or its largest crime of 9-11.
by
Bill Cain (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 284 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 1:29:42 PM
you did miss something - the truth about who did it
I must agree with billcain. The official US government "conspiracy theory" is a fairy tale that is quite easy to disprove. If I might quote one of my recent articles:
I haven't seen one piece of evidence that those 19 Arab guys were even on any of those airplanes, no passenger manifests, no pictures or video tapes from the airport showing them boarding planes, no record of ticket purchases. Don't you see how obviously ridiculous it is? Come on - you've got the airport videos showing passengers, so just show us the video of the hijackers with the other passengers, we will all believe you in 2 seconds if you show the proof, what? you don't want to release the information to back up your case? Why the hell should I believe your story when you have evidence but won't show it to me, that just tells me what you say is a lie. No video of the "plane" hitting the Pentagon either, or the seized tapes from a gas station and hotel nearby. Why on earth would you want to withhold such vital evidence unless you were guilty? There is simply no logical explanation for them hiding and destroying the evidence, unless the evidence points directly at them.
by
CasaZaza (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 145 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 4:30:15 PM
that all the relevant questions haven't been answered regarding 9/11. I've spent many hours and evenings wathcing and rewatching videos on it, calculating the dimensions of the towers compared to the drop of jet fuel that evidently landed in them, reading the statements of untold scientists, and of course connecting the political dots.
Yes, hell yes, this may well have been an inside job; Bush may be dumb as a doorknob, but those running the show are not, and they have long ago learned the lesson, "The bigger the lie, the higher it will fly." I saw how such things work in a microcosm, when I was out on a limb by myself fighting the "powers that be"--check out http://www.endteacherabuse.org/Geery.html if you want to read about my Visit to Hell.
Still, Todd's article seems to be focused on all the people we are killing mindlessly now, how to talk about that to your progeny, and not on the facts regarding 9/11. If he wrote about that somewhere else, I confess I missed it.
by
Daniel Geery (26 articles, 58 quicklinks, 121 diaries, 690 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 6:28:07 PM
I, too, have spent countless hours pouring over the events of 9/11, reading official and counter-versions, scrolls of points and counterpoints, and reams of peer-reviewed engineering analyses, and I have simply come to the conclusion that there is no cover-up.
Does the American public know 100% of the facts of the events of that bright and terrible morning? Undoubtedly, no. Will time reveal new facts. Certainly, yes.
But the degree of complexity involved in creating both the illusion of a terrorist attack, and the actual destruction itself, impossibly exceeds the ability of any group, no matter how brilliantly devious, to plan, carry-out, and cover-up without there having been some one, somewhere, leaking their role in the conspiracy. If someday someone does, then I will be the first to stand up and admit my error.
As much as I detest this administration, and its neoconservative supporters, and enjoy assigning them blame whenever possible for anything wrong in the world today, their gross incompetence towards every other aspect of governing (Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, and on, and on) contradicts the brilliance needed to pull off 9/11 and cover it up so completely for nearly six years.
Thank you, Daniel, for reminding the other commentators that the piece isn't even about 9/11 to begin with, but rather about the ease at which the American public in its fascination with American Idol and Paris Hilton continues to overlook the enormous carnage wrought by our continuing occupation that had nothing to do with our tragedy. The piece is also about, as you said, how I explained to my twelve-year-old daughter (note to Bill, a daughter is a "her", not a "him") why it is that the American mainstream media (and yes, Bill, for better or for worse, I am often published in the mainstream media) ignores the Iraqi death toll. For that matter, the MSM is increasingly not reporting the American casualty rate either.
To the commentator who pulled my quote and asked about Bush's murderous rampage, you have proven my point exactly. The American public largely continues to ignore Bush's murderous rampage precisely for the reason that it believes, outright or implicitly, that killing other people for the sake of it's (the American public's) supposed "security" assumes that those lives have lesser value than our own.
Thanks, everyone, for commenting.
by
Todd Huffman, M.D. (80 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 109 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 7:31:54 PM
A good and thoughtful article, just one mistake...
there are two "Third Rails" of discussions and articles on OpEd News much like Social Security is on Capitol Hill and you touched one of them.
1. Say anything other than 9/11 is absolutely and positively an inside job replete with science fiction grade weapons than Bush himself designed for the job (because his idiocy is really an act, in reality he makes Einstein, Newton and all the rest look like intellectual dwarves), and you will get 50 angry responses who simply cannot stand to be on this earth with someone who thinks like you. Nevermind that the use of Directed Energy Weapons or MicroNukes doesnt come close to being scientifically possible given the situation and that perfect placement of thermite in close proximity to where a jumbo-jet would soon strike is also exceptionally hard to imagine, let alone if you were going to actually architect a plan to bring down the towers in some sort of false flag operation, you would definitely NOT make it look like anything that resembled a controlled demolition for obvious reasons.
2. The second third rail that you did not touch is if you happen to like anything a Democrat has recently done, or ever did, or might do. That also will earn you a plethora of ranting responses.
by
Steven Leser (209 articles, 44 quicklinks, 32 diaries, 1367 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 8:59:23 PM
The fact is that I love this site and what Rob has done with it. But there are a few groups that have issues here. One of the people from the BTDFE crowd that I alluded to above (what I call the Blame The Democrats For Everything) called for Pelosi to be sent to the Hague and charged with crimes. That is the kind of stuff that that group purports to be serious discourse. You will be happy to note that I found the phone and email contact information for the UN International Criminal Court at the Hague and provided them to the poster and asked that he call the court and report on his results.
You were talking about getting a laugh? ;-)
by
Steven Leser (209 articles, 44 quicklinks, 32 diaries, 1367 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 9:38:21 PM
"1. Say anything other than 9/11 is absolutely and positively an inside job replete with science fiction grade weapons than Bush himself designed for the job (because his idiocy is really an act, in reality he makes Einstein, Newton and all the rest look like intellectual dwarves), and you will get 50 angry responses who simply cannot stand to be on this earth with someone who thinks like you. Nevermind that the use of Directed Energy Weapons or MicroNukes doesnt come close to being scientifically possible given the situation and that perfect placement of thermite in close proximity to where a jumbo-jet would soon strike is also exceptionally hard to imagine, let alone if you were going to actually architect a plan to bring down the towers in some sort of false flag operation, you would definitely NOT make it look like anything that resembled a controlled demolition for obvious reasons."
Yes, there are many people who think 9/11 was an inside job, either allowed to happen or made to happen (passive or active conspiracy by some in the government).
But your mocking, smear, logical fallacies, distortion, disinformation and propaganda make it impossibly to take you seriously. I've never heard ANYONE say that Bush designed any such weapons. You are just making that up and then accusing people of it -- that's classic straw dog smear.
Most people I've seen here do not respond angrily to people who don't think it was a conspiracy -- you are hugely exaggerating that and then accusing people of your own exaggeration. Again -- propaganda and smear -- this is what we have come to expect from the right-wing Republicans.
I have seen a few people talk about directed energy weapons and mini-nukes -- and also some that say UFOs were involved, or holographic projections to cover missile attacks. Now, that may be theoretically possible, but it's most highly unlikely, of course, and more importantly, that's NOT what most people who think the government was responsible say. Once yet again you are just making crap up and smearing people. As for placing thermit or similar substances for the purpose of demolishing buildings is not at all hard to imagine -- it's done all the while. That's how building are taken down. That's not to say it happened in this case, but if a team of people who gained access beforehand decided to do it, it's not all that hard. There was already a bomb went off in the WTC just by driving a vehicle in. Placing charges would take more time, of course and a little bit of knowledge -- but it's hardly unimaginable. What is harder to imagine is taking down the towers WITHOUT a carefully controlled demolition. If you take just one side down, then the rest may well stay up, just leaving a hole in the side of the building. One might also keep in the mind the sheer size of the building -- lateral displacement would be more unlikely in a huge building, requiring tremendous forces -- things do "want" to fall straight down. we are not talking about a two hundred foot smokestack -- and even those will break in the middle as it starts to topple and the lateral force exceed the strength of the wall as it accelerates. It isn't clear to me a controlled demolition or just bombing out the bottom supports would look different with a building that big. That's talking about the towers -- building 7 is another subject.
There are huge number of possibilities, and hardly any of them have been eliminated because there was never an open, thorough and serious investigation, and much of the evidence had been quickly destroyed or hidden. No one not 'in on it', whatever 'it' actually was, KNOWS what happened.
But the point here is that you are not discussing the various aspects and possibilities seriously -- you are mocking and smearing people. For all the world you look to me like a Rush Limbaugh or any ordinary Republican propagandist --- or a great many democratic propagandists who do about the same thing. YOU are one who is ranting.
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 9:33:16 PM
Smear tactics are no joke -- feel sad for yourself that you think you must resort to them, and for any who may be taken in by them.
Once again you use the phrase "BTDFE crowd that I alluded to above (what I call the Blame The Democrats For Everything)". This a direct ripoff of the phrase "Blame Ameica First crowd" which Rumsfeld and other right wingers have been using to smear liberals or any who opposed the war or said there were reasons for the 9/11 attacks, or for years before criticized the US for anything. It's stock propaganda you just lifted and reworked for your own over-generalization and smear, trying to stop people from criticizing the Democrats. As I pointed out in the other recent response I made to you, people are not blaming the Democrats for "everything", but very specific things -- just as liberals blamed the US for very specific things, such as starting wars and imperialist policies.
Now your going to insult and patronize me by saying you feel sad for me? How condescending and arrogant of you! Did you have to go to troll school to learn to write like that? Because that's you are writing like -- a troll. Parroting DLC talking points and smears. If I hadn't thought the Democrats were useless and corrupted before, an official spokesman such as you saying these things would convince me. (Is it possible your are actually a Republican operative trying to get people angry at Democrats? Naahhh... You're a Democrat!)
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 10:57:48 PM
The troops aren't going anywhere. Prepare for continuous war until we've exhausted any means of saving our miserable species from destroying most certainly itself, but a good many of the rest of the species before we're done.
Hate to sound so negative, but I truly wish to see just one thing that could prove me wrong. The latest General put in charge just said, "... 8 to 12 years ...", by October we will have exhausted our military. There will be no more rotations left. Recent reports, true or false, that "suicide bomber teams" have been sent to Western Nations are stoking the fires of fear. Highly detailed plans for the nuclear bombing of Iran are being prepared.
And no one, not one single person out of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people has been held accountable for some of the most horrendous crimes ever perpetrated with such audacity against a nation that was in no way a threat to us. Not one. Not only have they not been stopped, they've INCREASED the wars.
And until I see at least one of these pretenders of soul hanging from a gallows I refuse to believe we'll stop war before war stops us.
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1398 comments)
on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 10:52:23 PM
22 comments
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