What about the Iraqis?

Dear Ms. Lombardi:\nI find your guest column "Support Our Troops," which appeared in the IDS on April 8, 2003, to be extremely troubling for several reasons. Not only do you make false claims, but you show a shameless and short-sighted nationalism in failing to even mention the suffering of the Iraqi people.\nYou state that the U.S. troops are fighting and dying to "defend" our freedoms. If you had studied the U.S. invasion with some care, you would know that it is in no way "defensive." Iraq never attacked the United States, nor has any link been established between the now defunct Iraqi regime and the Sept. 11 attacks. Furthermore, it has never been shown by the United States or any other authority that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction or that it has the willingness or the intention to transfer such weapons to any terrorist organizations. The invasion was undertaken by U.S. and British forces in violation of one of the most fundamental principles of international law: no state has the right to invade another sovereign state. In addition, the U.N. charter does not designate the power to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions, in defiance of that same Security Council, to any one of its member states. Only the Security Council itself may act to enforce such resolutions. Your friend Jonathon and his fellow soldiers are thus taking part in an illegitimate and illegal war and are most certainly not defending our liberties. It would have been wise on your part to review some of these facts rather than simply accepting White House propaganda. It is precisely the role of the media, of which you are a part, to question and expose such propaganda.\nThe other part of your article, and that which I find perhaps even more disturbing, is the shameless bias which you show towards U.S. soldiers. You go to great lengths to create an emotional link between your reader and Jonathon, using rhetorical techniques which should only be reserved for the worst of bad TV movies. Unfortunately, the effect produced is much nearer to that of nausea. You do not even care to mention (not even one sentence!) the suffering of the Iraqi people. Apparently, we are supposed to shed a tear over Jonathon's cold showers and dismiss the thousands of Iraqis killed during the U.S. invasion as unfortunate side effects of this great enterprise of defending our freedoms. Jonathon and the other U.S. soldiers willingly signed up to serve in the U.S. military. They were not drafted or coerced in any way. The thousands of Iraqis who have died and who are still dying did not choose to participate in this war. It seems that for you, they are simply "collateral damage" and not even worth a good shower. Although dismayed by your silence with regards to the suffering of the Iraqis, I realize that you are not alone. While your attitude is especially indifferent, it is representative of how their plight has been represented in the media during this war. Perhaps a more appropriate and balanced article would have taken into account the suffering of all the actors in this tragedy, and most of all that of the Iraqi people. It would have had the virtue of recognizing a humanity which transcends narrow questions of nationalism.