Re.: Wall St. Journal close-up on US wounded: "wir haben

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

WSJ: "While attention focuses on the number of American soldiers killed
in
Iraq -- 115 by enemy fire since Mr. Bush announced the end of major
combat on May 1 -- the military doesn't generally publicize the
more-frequent incidents in which soldiers are wounded. According to a
tally kept by the U.S. Central Command, as of 7 p.m. on Oct. 27, the
U.S. military had sustained a total of 1,737 nonlethal casualties from
hostile action in Iraq, including 1,186 since May 1."

I lent my calculator to a student, so what percentage is 1,186 of 1,737
?
Ah, only a rhetorical question, dear friends.

As Juriaan suggested, I went to CommonDreams and read:
" 'POSTWAR' DEATHS PASS NUMBERS DURING 'MAJOR COMBAT' IN IRAQ... "

Then I read:

Up to 15,000 people killed in invasion, claims thinktank

by Suzanne Goldenberg
The Guardian, Wednesday October 29, 2003
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4784714-103550,00.html

"As many as 15,000 Iraqis were killed in the first days of America's
invasion and occupation of Iraq, a study produced by an independent US
thinktank said yesterday. Up to 4,300 of the dead were civilian
noncombatants. "

I saw no tally of shredded Iraqi bodies that still breathe, no pictures
of the people of all ages--not just soldiers who "volunteered" or were
duped into following the Battle Flag of the Republic-- no life histories
torn through the early chapters and burnt with callous dismissal by a
bored bureaucracy.  I don't feel the transmission of a racing pulse or
the rapid, heavy thud of a horrified heart against the ribs.  I hear no
recording of the shrieks and moans, or the curses that increase by the
day.  But I witness with wonder the sincere concern over how ungrateful
people must be to countenance the suicider-bombing of the UN or the Red
Cross.  So perplexing.  So perplexing that people with the luxury of
education and financial security have no comprehension of cause and
effect.  But then, in a pause, I suspect that some do indeed.  There is
profit in the making of a population insane.



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