The real human cost in Iraq

Brian Stewart wrote on Oct. 11 that honor ought to trump humanitarian considerations and that to withdraw from Iraq would impugn our nation's global reputation ("Number of Americans wounded in Iraq climbs higher" intelligence brief, Opinion front). Apparently Brian does not use sources outside of the American mainstream press or delve at all into reality. Were he to do so, he might be aware that the reputation of the U.S. has long been that of a global bully and that our national honor was lost the first time Native Americans were slaughtered for their land. Brian seems to have noticed what is now a well-known fact; this occupation has led to a greater threat of terrorist attacks. Yes, America is less safe because America is fighting a war, a war which America started on false pretenses and which has been continued counter to the standards of U.S. and international law. Brian might also take note that his beloved nation is widely regarded as the world's most dangerous rogue state. America threatens to use nuclear weapons and is the only country ever to have used such WMDs; America refuses to honor international treaties and even its own Constitution; America ignores the will of the people and hides its war criminals from justice. \nThough it ought to be among the factors in our considerations, the number of American wounded is paltry compared to the toll Iraqi families have suffered. On the same day that Brian told us all to hush-up because America has to appear "mature" to the world, The Lancet published further research on the human cost of America's crimes in Iraq. The evidence shows us that well over half a million Iraqis are dead thanks to America's misguided lust for revenge. I am disgusted when my fellow citizens ignore the suffering that America is causing. Iraqi dead since March 2003 now exceed American casualties in World War II, and this time America is the criminal aggressor; this time the genocide is our crime. As citizens of a putative democracy, the crimes of our government are our crimes. The blood of 655,000 Iraqis is on our hands.