The Human Cost of War
Every day and every night, we are bombarded with images of war. Images of burned out cars, bombs going off, soldiers with guns jumping at every noise. What the mainstream media has done however, is removed the very human cost of war.
Mainstream media for the most part shows us the images of burned out cars, not burned out people. They show us the bloody aftermath, but not those who are left behind to mourn and try to survive. They show us the soldiers living and dying in Iraq but don't show us the very real cost to their families back in the U.S. They are more than willing to talk about how much money the war is or isn't (depending on if you are watching Fox News) costing. They will cite opinion poll after opinion poll but they don't transmit the real thoughts, the real opinions, the very real fear and grief of those in the thick of it. It is precisely this lack of realistic reporting on the human cost of war that alienates us from each other.
If the family of each American Soldier who died in this imperialistic folly started by their cardboard President could meet just one family in Iraq who has lost a person, they could all see that grief is universal. Pain and suffering by those left behind is universal. If the media had the balls to go against the Bush Administration party line and talk about the true cost to American Soldiers in terms of PTSD, physical illness and just plain old fear, Americans would see that in reality, Iraqis and Americans are losing the same thing and they are both paying the same price. Iraqis are no happier with the constant bombings, shootings, kidnappings etc that are happening on a daily basis. They are not happy with feeling powerless yet they are powerless to do anything to stop it. On the other side of the pond, Americans could no more stop GWB from going to war than I could. GWB and the neo-con cabal that is currently running the country were gung-ho for war with Iraq right from the beginning and no one, not even Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 disaster were going to stop them.
The cost of war should never be measured in dollars and cents. It should in fact be measured in bodies and blood. Economic and oil interests are the cause, not the cost. The true cost of war is the human cost.
posted by Amal at
11:50 PM
2 Comments:
It's astonishing how quickly people can just dismiss the amount of human life lost in war, especially when it comes to non-American lives. The money means little compared to the thousands of families who have lost loved ones.
Nice new blog. I like what have to say here, and I went ahead and added a link on my blogroll.
Amalinka, you have a pretty one-sided view of the war in Iraq and of the U.S. political system. You say that Americans can't stop it, but in fact we can if we want to. Watch the elections in 2006 and 2008. That's where the power is.
You conveniently disregard the misery of the Iraqi people under Saddam. The violence in Iraq today, which is not being perpetrated by the U.S., will end some day. Iraqis at least have a future now.
I'm not necessarily saying that the war in Iraq is the right war at the right time in the right place. However, your analysis would be more meaningful if it were more balanced and better-informed. Your reference to a "neocon cabal," for example, is well off the mark. I really like informed opinion, whatever direction it takes, but the operative word is "informed."
And I agree with Moose. Nice blog.
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