Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.
There's a reflexive tendency to think the worst of the Bush-Cheney administration when scandals like the torture tapes emerge. This tendency is well justified.
This administration's defining moment was the Iraq invasion. Over time, it caused death to 1.2 million civilians and the injuries of 1.1 million noncombatants. Just last week we found out that there are now five million orphans in Iraq.
How can the administration and their enablers ever top that? Why shouldn't we expect the worst immediately when we hear yet another accusation of criminal or unethical conduct?
Destroying torture tapes pales by comparison to these tragedies, all a result of the illegal invasion:
Opinion Research Group Sept. 2007
Iraqi anti corruption board Dec 15, 2007
Have you heard or read that 9% or Iraq's population is either dead or injured to date due to the 2003 invasion? This is rarely addressed by U.S. media or politicians.
The announcement that 19% of Iraq's population now consists of orphans hasn't hit mainstream media's radar yet. This shocker seems destined for the same fate as the death and injury figures.
Snuff Tapes and One Dead Terrorist Dominate Coverage
Odd isn't it? All this emphasis on the CIA's destruction of Abu Zubaydah torture tapes instead of the pervasive and ongoing human loss and suffering visited on Iraq by Bush and Cheney?
Let's take a quick look at the tape controversy and see if there's some relationship to the dismissal and denial of the infinitely larger outrage.
