Neoliberal Americans Are Killing Children From Occupied Afghanistan
To Newtown , Connecticut , USA
By Dr Gideon Polya
18 December, 2012
Countercurrents.org
We are all shocked by the latest American gun massacre. Not reported is the awful reality that each year 8 million under-5 year old infants die out of 104 million children born in the Developing World (minus China), 90% avoidably, and ultimately due to deprivation in a World under neoliberal American hegemony. However this greed-driven carnage is not confined to the Developing World. As summarized below, neoconservative America is killing innocent children from Occupied Afghanistan to Newtown , Connecticut .
The United Nations Population Division (see: http://esa.un.org/wpp/unpp/panel_population.htm ) provides regularly updated demographic data about the World. In 2010 in the Less Developed regions (minus China), the population was 4,287.8 million, births totalled 104.1 million, the under-5 infant mortality per 1,000 live births was 76.5, and accordingly under-5 infant deaths totalled 7.97 million or about 8.0 million. In contrast, in the More Developed regions (population 1,235.9 million, 14.1 million births annually), the under-5 infant mortality per 1,000 live births was 8.0 and under-5 infant deaths in 2010 totalled 0.113 million.
Now good governance, high female literacy and good primary health care can yield very low infant mortality even in very poor countries and thus the under-5 infant mortality per 1,000 live births is 6 for Cuba (gross national income per capita $5,460) as compared to 8 in the US (gross national income per capita $47,310) (World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/countries/en/ ). Assuming the infant mortality in the Developed world of 8 deaths per 1,000 births is as good as can be practicably achieved, we can estimate that of the 8 million under-5 infant deaths annually in the Developing World (minus China) about (76.5 – 8.0)x100/76.5 = 89.5% or roughly 90% are avoidable. Accordingly we can estimate that each year about 7.2 million under-5 infants die avoidably on Spaceship Earth with neocon America in charge of the flight deck.
All decent people would surely agree with the proposition “thou shalt not kill children” (see “Thou shalt not kill children” : http://thoushaltnotkillchildren.blogspot.com.au/ ) . Further, whether a child is killed violently (e.g. by bombs or bullets) or dies from imposed deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease, the child's death is equally final and the culpability the same. Indeed a farmer who starves his livestock to death rather than shooting them goes to jail for deprived inhumanity.
The 9-11 atrocity (that almost certainly involved the US Government; see “Experts: US did 9-11”: https://sites.google.com/site/expertsusdid911/ ) killed about 3,000 people and was used as the excuse for the 21st century, Zionist-backed US War on Terror that has been associated, so far, with 9 million Muslim deaths from violence or war-imposed deprivation, with a substantial proportion of the victims being children (see “Muslim Holocaust Muslim Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/muslimholocaustmuslimgenocide/ ) . Accordingly, it is useful to roughly estimate how many children have died avoidably since 9-11 linked to US war, occupation or hegemony by simply multiplying annual death rates by 11. Such calculations are under-estimates because children are people under-18 (not just those under-5) and under-5 infant mortality fortunately seems to be declining (8.2 million in 2010 as compared to 10.6 million in 2003; see Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, now available for free perusal on the Web: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/body-count-global-avoidable-mortality_05.html ).
1. There have been an estimated 7.2 million/year x 11 years = 79 million avoidable under-5 infant deaths globally since 9-11 under US hegemony.
2. There have been 2.9 million under-5 infant deaths in US Alliance-occupied Afghanistan (2001-2012), 90% avoidable and due to gross US Alliance violation of Articles 55 and 56 of the Geneva Convention that unequivocally state that an Occupier must provide life-sustaining food and medical requisites to its conquered subjects “to the fullest extent of the means available to it” (see “Afghan Holocaust Afghan Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/afghanholocaustafghangenocide/ ).
3. There were 0.8 million under-5 infant deaths in US Alliance-occupied Iraq (2003-2011), 90% avoidable and due to gross US Alliance violation of the Geneva Convention (see “Iraqi Holocaust Iraqi Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/iraqiholocaustiraqigenocide/home ). .
4. There were roughly 0.7 million under-5 infant deaths in US surrogate-occupied Somalia in the period 2001-2012 (see “Muslim Holocaust Muslim Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/muslimholocaustmuslimgenocide/ ).
5. It was estimated in 2009 that 1,000 children die avoidably each day in the overseas American Empire ( see Gideon Polya, “Hey, hey, USA , how many kids did you kill today? Answer: 1,000”, Bellaciao, 1 May 2009” http://www.bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article18750 ). Accordingly, one can estimate that 1,000 children/day x 365 days/year x 11 years = 4.0 million children have died avoidably in the overseas American Empire since 2001.
6. It can be estimated from comparative global infant mortal data that 21,000 under-5 year old American children die avoidably each year in the US , the world's richest country that should have the world's lowest infant mortality rate. Accordingly 11 x 21,000 = 231,000 under-5 year old American infants have died avoidably since 9-11 due to the perverse fiscal priorities of successive neocon American Governments.
Of course while the active or passive mass murder of millions of children by neocon America is an appalling, unforgivable crime, so too is the avoidable death of people of all ages under neocon American occupation or hegemony. Thus it is estimated that about 18 million people currently die avoidably in the Developing World (minus China ) (2010 data) as compared to 16 million per year in 2003. We could accordingly roughly estimate that 11 years x 17 million/year = 187 million people have died avoidably since 9-11 on Spaceship Earth with neocon Americans in charge of the flight deck.
Similarly, it is estimated that 1.1 million Americans die preventably each year and hence that 12.1 million Americans have died thus since 9-11 linked to the fiscal perversion of successive neocon American Governments committing an estimated $5.5 trillion accrual cost to killing 9 million Muslims abroad since 9-11 (see Gideon Polya, “One million Americans die preventably annually in USA”, Countercurrents, 18 February 2012: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya180212.htm ) . Of these 12 million preventable American deaths since 9-11 about 230,000 were under-5 year old infants and one supposes that of the order of 100,000 other American children may also have died preventably in this period.
The world has been shocked by the latest gun massacre in Newtown , Connecticut in which 20 very young Elementary School children were horribly murdered by a deranged gunman. President Obama appeared shocked, no longer faces re-election and has spoken, albeit inexplicitly, of the need to take action against the ready availability of guns in America. About 31,000 Americans are killed by guns each year (341,000 since 9-11) , this figure overlapping with 15,000 homicides each year (165,000 since 9-11) and 30,000 suicides annually (330,000 since 9-11, about 50,000 being veterans). Anti-gun activists want action over the ready availability of exceptionally dangerous automatic assault rifles to exceptionally dangerous people. However, racist, religious right Republicans (R4s) remain committed to guns that kill 10 times more people each year than died on 9-11.
Unfortunately neocon American-dominated US and Western media report the 20 innocent children murdered in Newtown, Connecticut, but resolutely refuse to report the 231,000 under-5 American born infants who have been sacrificed since 9-11 to the greed of a neocon America that professes the Right to Life of unborn children. Similarly, US and Western Mainstream media refuse to report the 700,000 children who die avoidably each year from imposed deprivation in the overseas American Empire or the over 7 million under-5 year old infants who perish each year under neocon American global hegemony. Unless people are told about the Awful Truth, neocon America will be allowed to proceed remorselessly on its bloody way. As we celebrate the birth of a child, Jesus Christ, at Christmas, please tell everyone you can.
Dr Gideon Polya currently teaches science students at a major Australian university. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds" (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London , 2003). He has recently published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ); see also his contributions “Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality” in “Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics” (edited by Robyn Williams, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007): http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s1445960.htm ) and “Ongoing Palestinian Genocide” in “The Plight of the Palestinians (edited by William Cook, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2010: http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/4047-the-plight-of-the-palestinians.html ). He has just published a revised and updated 2008 version of his 1998 book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” (see: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) as biofuel-, globalization- and climate-driven global food price increases threaten a greater famine catastrophe than the man-made famine in British-ruled India that killed 6-7 million Indians in the “forgotten” World War 2 Bengal Famine (see recent BBC broadcast involving Dr Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/social-economic-history/listen-the-bengal-famine ). When words fail one can say it in pictures - for images of Gideon Polya's huge paintings for the Planet, Peace, Mother and Child see: http://sites.google.com/site/artforpeaceplanetmotherchild/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/gideonpolya/ .
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