The Sanitation
Of War
By Frank Thomas
19 November, 2004
Countercurrents.org
Aerial
bombardment, civilian deaths, widespread destruction of homes and buildings.
The troops are sent in and more civilians dead and wounded, more soldiers
sacrificed. Fallujah and Mosul are just the start of the on-going strategy
for war. The filmed murder of the captive and wounded Iraqi is indicative
of the stepping up of violence and the madness. Nevertheless, its
also part of the sensationalism that the media feeds on and which the
public gets to focus on, in the same way that the videos of beheading
hostages foster outrage and aid the view that all Iraqi resistance fighters
are cold blooded assassins. Both actions are readily condemned; both
take your eyes off the bigger picture of the killing. The latest count
of civilian deaths is around 15,000. Rules of engagement? Tell that
to all those who lost family during bombing raids.
The onslaught of
Fallujah got the go ahead right after Bush was re-elected, no doubt
to steer the invasion of Iraq back to the battleground, back to eliminating
the enemy. They call it dealing with pockets of insurgents
and flushing out of terrorists. What they mean is killing
those that for whatever reasons are resisting the US/British led invasion.
Since the world has been turned upside down, where liberation=violence,
where security=repression, the terminology and presentation are fundamental,
they are what we have to get a grip on the situation, if we still can,
but they are also the ways in which the warmongering forces in government
have orchestrated the big lie of modern warfare .
The way war is now
conceived dates back to first Gulf War. This was to be a hi-tech military
display. The smart bomb, incisive attacks with minimum collateral damage,
the video-game war with the Pentagon presenting its film clips of targets
struck from the air. A new vision of imposing order. Innate in the concept
is western supremacy, technical superiority over backward and poor nations
that would be awestruck by such impressive technology. The language
of technology, the action movie campaign names like Shock and
Awe, are used to set the terrain to conceive as warfare as a smooth
business-like transaction, a routine project with few casualties and
little destruction.
One of the big lies
to have gone down is this sanitation of war. It is not about having
your skin burnt off from an exploding warhead: it is about a surgical
intervention brought about by an intelligent precise missile. Warfare
is being reshaped in our minds. Since the Gulf War, the green-screen
techno-war of smart bombs, the idea that an enemy can be defeated using
weapons that strike one particular anti-aircraft position right there
in that bunker we have the film to prove it - without any civilians
casualties, is the new mythology to window dress an old lie. If you
believe that a battle may be won with surgical, almost benevolent, accuracy
then you are well on your way to giving the go ahead to a war
Theres little
doubt that the rationale behind the conflicts in the Gulf and Afghanistan
not only stem from this notion of the swift hi-tech removal of the enemy,
but also from the idea you can strike with impunity. Its not necessary
to come face to face with the opposition because theyre getting
wiped out from the skies above. Well erase all the enemy units,
get in there to mop things up, do the job and go home again, simple
as that. Weve got the superiority, were so confident we
can do the photo-op video conference afterward.
The estimates of
civilians killed directly by American and allied forces in the first
Gulf War vary broadly between 5,000--15,000. After the end of the war
4,000-6,000 more civilians died due to wounds, lack of medical care,
or malnutrition. Yugoslavia, 1999, dubbed a humanitarian intervention,
was the second instance of the smart war. In the 11 week
bombing campaign, some estimate around 500 civilians, though others
put the total in the thousands, were killed and more than 6,000 sustained
serious injuries.
The on-going operation
Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan has killed between 3000-3400 civilians
to date.
The on-going Iraqi
Freedom operation has killed up to 15,000 civilians to date.
Thousands have died
in four major campaigns that we were persuaded would do the job
and keep unnecessary deaths to a minimum.
The military chiefs
have fallen foul of their own lie. The commanders subscribe to the ruse
of technological superiority, making warfare a clean, virtually push
button operation.
Onto Iraq, second
round. After the bombing raids to bring the country to its knees, the
soldiers move in. The plan seems to be working but it is not long before
the forces are tripping over themselves after their delusions of victory.
The dilemma is that the campaign was not conceived as warfare, not considered
an invasion or occupation. It is a mission, a crusade to safeguard world
peace and order. Then the real trouble begins. Do the armed forces ensure
that the country is entirely under control? No, because essentially
we are here to restore the water and electricity. Do the troops shoot
everyone and anyone who might represent a threat? No, because we are
not here to destroy the enemy but to see the transition of the country
from tyranny to democracy, besides that would make it appear an invasion.
The status is questionable. What exactly is the nature of the beast?
Confusion augments concerning the real motives of the project in the
first place, as to whether the mission is right or wrong. The lie that
war doesnt get people killed was by now accepted knowledge. But
what of the constantly changing rationale for being there, thats
a whole stream of lies to give the war a sanitized framework. First
its about removing the danger of WMD. Then about getting Saddam
and regime change. About punishing Iraq for their involvement in terrorist
activities, exploting the so-called moral high ground after
911 along the same lines as the war against Afghanistan. Now its
about freedom and bringing liberty and democracy to a people ruled by
a despot. The sanitizing of war has been superseded. It no longer matters
because now it is all about terrorism.
This is no relief
to most soldiers. Theres no law that says they would have to fight
and die on foreign soil in a war that their leaders had concocted. One
might argue that soldiers are trained and ready to die, they fall in
the line of duty to which they are fully compliant. This is one of the
truly age-old lies. A soldier who is killed defending his country is
one thing. It is a different case if troops are sent overseas in the
name of their presidents charade of the noble purposes of liberty
for an oppressed nation. This is why they had to hammer it out that
people were being tortured, the dictator was ready to release his bio
weapons, tongues were being ripped out in public squares, babies were
disappearing, the kings son likes to use dynamite when he goes
fishing. But once in Iraq they are manipulated by the military and government
alike, manipulated because they are not sure why they are there, sacrificed
because they must die for the lies fabricated in Washington and London.
If Bush and Blair are ever to be tried for war-crimes then the sacrifice
of their own soldiers should not be forgotten.
But Bush has been
reappointed as Commander In Chief and the military are back in the business
of total combat. They have fresh orders. It is time to start wiping
out the enemy once and for all. The insurgents, rebels, terrorists,
resistance, citizens, people, whatever you wish to call them.
The truth is that
after 9/11 the USA was primed for a new stint of warfare. The US has
always been going to war since 1945, and the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq follow the pattern. The worlds biggest war machine is the
US, they have the stockpiles and manufacturing capabilities and the
broadest network of technological development into means of destruction.
It is the US government that spends billions on armaments to the detriment
of the nation and every nation. The plans were in place for both Afghanistan
and Iraq before 9/11.
There is much concern
about a 9/11 conspiracy, rightly so given the lack of a thorough investigation
or transparency, thereby fuelling the accusations of a cover up. Whether
it was an inside job or not, we do know there is evidence
to show the Bush administration had warnings of the attacks. We also
know that it led to the hyped anti-terrorist phase on a global scale
and the ruse for war on two fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well
as a government tactic to boost the police and curb the liberty of citizens
in the nations very own backyard. Bin Laden? He is not even wanted
by the FBI for the 9/11 attacks. The fight against terrorism? Any trooper
could tell you that you do not smash a terrorist ring by bombing or
invading another country. The point is not about the soldier shooting
that wounded Iraqi. Its not about the brutal execution of hostages
either. And its not even about Bin Laden or terrorism. Its
about the war party, the warmongers, and they are on the march again.
Theres widespread consent in the indignation, outrage as well
as fear in the voices against the Bush/Blair regimes, but a lot of sidetracking
too when it comes to the issue of war. Its one thing to focus
on the anomalies of 911, on the allegations of fraudulent elections,
on the unashamed profiteering of the corporations, on the Trilateral
Commission, on the illustrious Skull and Bones that furnished two presidential
candidates, and all the rest of the gang making up the bright shining
light of the New World Order. Its another, more urgent, more desperate
issue when people are getting killed in order that their plans for empire
are taken a step further. They may give their operations new labels
depending on political expedients, but they still cannot hide the big
lie of the war project. The deaths in Fallujah, Mosul and the other
cities to come are the tragic realities of this strategy. This is the
work of governments and the military hand in hand with industrial corporations
whose ignominy and treachery are reflected in their spiralling weave
of lies about war as they push the world further into an insane cycle
of destruction.
Frank Thomas is
a teacher/translator and freelance writer living in Sicily. He can be
reached at [email protected]