Five
Years From 9/11:
Mission Unaccomplished
By David Howard
08 September, 2006
Countercurrents.org
When
war waged in our name takes place on a distant continent and afflicts
a people whose language we don’t speak, whose religion we don’t
practice, and whose customs we don’t understand, our capacity
for empathy is diminished. Empathy, however, is spiritual strength;
without it we are morally enfeebled.
As empathy withers, ethnocentrism
and xenophobia flourish. The Other—in this case the Iraqi—is
perceived as threateningly exotic and entirely unfamiliar, outside the
human family. Or she is not perceived at all. She’s anonymously
hidden under the rubble of collateral damage.
What most debilitates empathy
is toxic mass media. We are mesmerized by celebrity worship, sensationalism,
consumerism and the self-righteous cant of political entertainers posing
as journalists. We are inspired by banal slogans, entertained by perpetual
one-click shopping opportunities, and titillated by the gore and glam
of the rich and blonde.
We Americans recognize the
names Natalee Holloway, Jonbenet Ramsey and Paris Hilton instantly,
but we couldn’t name one Iraqi casualty of war if our lives depended
on it.
Iraqi lives do depend on
it. The war in Iraq won’t end unless we get our ethical bearings
and recover our empathy. It won’t end unless we learn the names
Roesio, Khadem and Hosam as well as we have learned Paris, Natalee and
Jonbenet. It won’t end unless we care as much about “their”
dead in Baghdad as “our” dead on 9/11.
What we have done to Iraqis
is no secret; we cannot plead ignorance. Real American journalists like
Kathy Kelly of “Voices in the Wilderness” have been reporting
from Iraq’s hospitals since Shock and Awe began on March 19, 2003.
Kelly told us about Roesio
Salem, a 10-year-old girl from a place called Hai Risal, severely wounded
by our weapons on the first day of the war.
She told us about Fatima,
a 10-year-old from Radwaniya, who suffered multiple fractures when a
wall fell on her as she ran from our bombs.
She told us about Khadem,
63, who was shopping for food when shrapnel punctured his intestine
and wounded his leg.
She told us about Hosam,
a 13-year-old who was wounded in the stomach and now has a colostomy
bag.
This killing and maiming has continued under our watch for three and
a half years.
Just days before the 5th
anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
CNN reported that we reached another macabre milestone in the Iraq War.
US military dead surpassed the number of people who died in the 9/11
attacks. The civilian death toll is, of course, very much higher. The
Defense Department reports that over the past quarter, Iraq has averaged
3,000 war deaths per month.
Iraq has about one tenth
of the population of the USA. An equivalent disaster for our population
would be the death of 120,000 Americans between May and September. That’s
twice the number of soldiers who died in the entire Vietnam War. That’s
forty 9/11s.
If Americans were being killed
at the rate Iraqis are, we’d be losing almost 30,000 citizens
each month, 1,000 per day.
The dead wouldn’t be
thousands of miles away in Baghdad or Falluja; they’d be people
we know from church, school and soccer practice. They’d be children
from our daycare centers. They’d be seniors on park benches. The
maimed and wounded would fill up our hospitals and long-term care facilities
from Maine to California. We would know their names.
The Iraq war never should
have happened. It has brought misery, poverty, pain and death to a people
who deserved only our love and humanitarian assistance.
Now, as we reflect on the
fifth anniversary of 9/11 and remember what it is like to be the victims
of a murderous attack, we have before us a solemn peace mission that
remains tragically unaccomplished. It is time to forget Paris Hilton
and remember Roesio Salem. It’s time to end the Iraq War and occupation.
There will never be a better time.
David Howard serves
on the Board of Directors of Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions/CPR.
Contact him at [email protected]