First, a couple of numbers:
2005 estimated population in Iraq: 26,ooo,ooo
Most recent estimate of civilian casualties in current conflict: 50,000
That last number, it should be pointed out, is an extremely conservative estimate. Also, it goesw back a ways, well before the current round of unimaginable violence, in which people are dying in the hundreds every week.
Not all of these people were killed directly by US forces, of course. It seems safe to say, however, that they died as a result of the US presence in Iraq, that in the continued stunning ineptitude of Bush and Rumsfeld's occupation, they have unleashed pure and unimaginable chaos that has led directly to the deaths of thousands of innocent people. And they don't care.
And neither do we, because it's happening so far away. We care if an American dies, if a soldier is ripped to shreds or a reporter is beheaded, then we call the people who do that barbarians, but the people who drop bombs on restaurants and blow up orphanages, we have no issues with that. It's war, and sometimes bad things happen. As long as they don't happen to anyone on our side.
As we sit back and let this spectacle unfold, as we wonder why so many Arab nations hate us, as we make no effort to even understand why 9/11 happened, we only guarantee that it will happen again.
