“Coalition” Death Toll reaches 1,000
international |
anti-war / imperialism |
news report 
Tuesday May 11, 2004 16:46
by Jo Take
At least 1,000 “Coalition” Troops, the vast majority of them American, have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since the post-September 11th launch of Americas wars of revenge.
The death which brought this unwelcome milestone, of a Sergeant in the Dutch army in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in As-Samawah, was ironically, the first fatality suffered by the Netherlands in Iraq. It was perhaps a symbol of the new era of brutality launched by the current American Government that the 1,000th victim should come from a land famously associated with tolerance and previously looked upon as a near-perfect example of functioning democracy.
The death toll (Source: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count) does not include deaths of contractors/ mercenaries, which is believed to number nearly 100, almost all of them ex-military Special Forces.
Comments (5 of 5)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5Do your figures include CIVILIAN HOSTAGES executed by the Iraqi militia. Coz I know of two of em. There was the Italian guy executed and then earlier this evening they beheaded an American Hostage, I think his name was Neil Berg, on TV. So thats really gonna stop the Americans from beating prisoners and they will definitely start treating the Iraqis with Respect!!!!
...and Drbinoche illustrates this perfectly. Revenge. Eye-for-an-eye. Vengeance. If you want Americans in Iraq to commit war crimes then all you have to do is commit a few war crimes on them. Most Americans are fundamentally incapable of distinguishing between the acts of a small, unrepresentative group of brutal Iraqi sadists and the actions of a so-called 'civilized' nation. There's no 'rising above that' with Americans. Nope. They'll do anything that any sadistic thug anywhere will do. And they'll be proud of it. Americans will look at the mutilated body of the innocent child that they've just butchered and smile and think "that'll teach them to kill our kids". They really think like that. That's what morality is to them.
They will be defeated in Iraq because they deserve to be...
QUOTE: "Most Americans are fundamentally incapable of distinguishing between the acts of a small, unrepresentative group of brutal Iraqi sadists and the actions of a so-called 'civilized' nation."
ANSWER: Most David Cs are fundamentally incapable of distinguishing between the acts of a small, unrepresentative group of brutal American sadists and the actions of a so-called 'civilized' nation.
SUMMARY: David C is an American by his own definition. It's interesting how he tag-teams with Drbinoche. His (David C's) opinion is a definite minority on the site (unthinking anti-Americanism, vilification of Israel, anti direct action) and he provides a great foil for the right-wingers. I wonder why that is. Perhaps he's working with them.
There's no guarantee the USA will be defeated anywhere (certainly not due to some weird semi-Christian notion of being 'right'). It's up to activists to make sure that they are.
And it's up to those of us that see the USA as just one expression of the problems of capitalism (UK, France, Russia anyone?) to make sure that the link between capitalism, non-democracy and war and mismanagement of our lives is made clear.
So save the anti-American rhetoric David C.
Please correct me if I'm wrong here: You think that the behaviour of the US is just a symptom. The root of the problem is 'capitalism', which is responsible, amoung other things, for 'the mismanagement of our lives'. Did I get that right, Phug? Did capitalism cause you to mismanage your life, Phug? No doubt you would like to save me and everyone else from mismanaging our lives under capitalism. Choice and freedom can be stressful, I admit, but personally I prefer it anyway.
Some corrections:
-I do not promote 'unthinking anti-Americanism'. On the contrary I suggest that people think very carefully about what the US has been doing.
-I do not vilify Israel. On the contrary I support a safe, secure Israel within its pre-1967 borders (albeit with market-value compensation, with interest, paid to Palestinians whose land was taken in 1948). I do vilify 'greater-Israel' zionism, however, because it is a vile and sociopathic thing.
-I am not 'anti-direct action'. I am 'anti-ineffective action'. And I believe that knee-jerk, exclusionary, flaky action is worse than no action at all.
The US is in the wrong in Iraq and the entire world (including many Americans) can see clearly that it is wrong. All kinds of different people all over the world (not least in the US) will act in all kinds of different ways to do what they see is right. That's why the US will be defeated. A bunch of hooligans throwing bottles at the Guards will probably have very little to do with it.
QUOTE: "Knee-jerk fanatics often approach issues very literally, because they cannot think beyond simplistic, uncompromising, black-and-white points of view"
ANSWER: "Makes sense to me..."
This figure relates only to military deaths, among which are included military police and so called "anti-terror" experts (e.g Spanish Guardia Civil). Western "civilian" casualties in Iraq are generally labelled as "contractors" to give an impression that the Iraqi resistance is blindly targetting by race/nationality.
The rape of Iraq is facilitated by an army of these "contractors", latest estimates are of 40,000 foreign "security" experts being hired by companies to protect their operations. By no means all of these are Western, Egyptians and Kurds feature strongly, but the majority of western "contractors" in Iraq are employed in "security", and are much more acurrately perfoming the role of mercenaries.
While most are ex-military, there is a case in our own island of a serving Sargeant in the RIR/UDR using his holiday leave to travel to Iraq to earn some blood money. This individual returned in a bodybag last month.
As for Iraqi civilians , the "Coalition" does not make even the faintest pretence at admitting causing, let alone counting casualties.
My sympathies on the death of your friends in Iraq.
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