Wednesday, January 12, 2005
real photos from a real war
The site Fallujah in Pictures has incredible photos from Iraq and other "underreported humanitarian emergencies". Many of the photos are graphic.
I would say that children shouldn't look at them, but considering the fact that so many Iraqi children are witnessing the horrors first hand, I actually think that American children should be shown the photos so that they understand that there are real consequences to using guns and bombs.
The photo of 5 Iraqi kids staring at a severed hand made me ponder this point. Can you imagine if your own children had to witness this? Wouldn't you be outraged? Or would you say, "my children are scarred for life by what they have seen, our house and all our possessions are destroyed, my sister and her husband are dead, but we get to vote in two weeks. Thank you, America!"
Think about it. There were 300,000 people living in Fallujah. Now, only 40,000 or so have returned to a city in which 60-70% of the buildings have been destroyed, basic utilities are months away from working, and the people are being told not to eat the food or water (as they were potentially contaminated by US chemical weapons and cluster bombs.) Add to that the horror of finding your neighbors' or relatives' bodies partially eaten by dogs remaining in houses around the city.
Nigel Parry notes that Iraqis will have months or even years to contemplate whether the death and destruction in Fallujah was worth the fight the Americans fought against the insurgents. Americans, on the other hand, will have forgotten about the plight of the Iraqi people within a short time.
Remember 9-11? Do you know why it happened? Not because "they hate our freedom" but (as Parry and others point out), they hated our policies. And still we continue with policies that cannot help but anger and frustrate millions of Muslims (and non-Muslims) around the world.
Did we win the hearts and minds of those 5 boys staring at the severed hand of a fellow Iraqi? Call me cynical, but somehow, I doubt it.
¶ 10:20 AM
The site Fallujah in Pictures has incredible photos from Iraq and other "underreported humanitarian emergencies". Many of the photos are graphic.
I would say that children shouldn't look at them, but considering the fact that so many Iraqi children are witnessing the horrors first hand, I actually think that American children should be shown the photos so that they understand that there are real consequences to using guns and bombs.
The photo of 5 Iraqi kids staring at a severed hand made me ponder this point. Can you imagine if your own children had to witness this? Wouldn't you be outraged? Or would you say, "my children are scarred for life by what they have seen, our house and all our possessions are destroyed, my sister and her husband are dead, but we get to vote in two weeks. Thank you, America!"
Think about it. There were 300,000 people living in Fallujah. Now, only 40,000 or so have returned to a city in which 60-70% of the buildings have been destroyed, basic utilities are months away from working, and the people are being told not to eat the food or water (as they were potentially contaminated by US chemical weapons and cluster bombs.) Add to that the horror of finding your neighbors' or relatives' bodies partially eaten by dogs remaining in houses around the city.
Nigel Parry notes that Iraqis will have months or even years to contemplate whether the death and destruction in Fallujah was worth the fight the Americans fought against the insurgents. Americans, on the other hand, will have forgotten about the plight of the Iraqi people within a short time.
The Administration has no understanding of the most obvious fact — that true peace can only come to a situation in which people are not dealing with the basics of survival, where they have homes, utilities, and a sense of security. Peace has been pushed generations back in Fallujah.And please don't say that progressives just speak gloom and doom about American policy. We obviously are more forward-thinking than the politicians who believe that bombing a country back into the stone age will "win the hearts and minds" of those people.
America seems to think it can simply fix this, forgetting that the destruction of an entire city and way of life will leave bitter rubble in people's hearts for years to come.
Remember 9-11? Do you know why it happened? Not because "they hate our freedom" but (as Parry and others point out), they hated our policies. And still we continue with policies that cannot help but anger and frustrate millions of Muslims (and non-Muslims) around the world.
Did we win the hearts and minds of those 5 boys staring at the severed hand of a fellow Iraqi? Call me cynical, but somehow, I doubt it.
¶ 10:20 AM
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Saw that site too. Got into a 'spirited debate'with an ex-Air Force buddy last night about Iraq issues-I showed him the very photo you mentioned. He didn't care:" It's War. People get killed.I'm sick of hearing about civilians-why didn't they just leave anyway?"
I asked him if reads Ann Coulter, who recently used almost those exact words in a recent screed.
Yes.
That's coming from an otherwise intelligent and sane person. It's as if half the country is in deep denial-they are so unable to deal with the idea of America being wrong that their minds just shut down and turn into propaganda recycling centers.
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I asked him if reads Ann Coulter, who recently used almost those exact words in a recent screed.
Yes.
That's coming from an otherwise intelligent and sane person. It's as if half the country is in deep denial-they are so unable to deal with the idea of America being wrong that their minds just shut down and turn into propaganda recycling centers.
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