Oct 31, 2004

By Our Hand And In Your Name: 100,000 Dead Iraqis

Rick Burgess 10/30/04 'ICH' 'In August 2004, the United States Congress unanimously adopted a resolution labeling the situation in Darfur as genocide. On September 9, American Secretary of State Colin Powell in turn declared before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, '[that] genocide has taken place and may still be continuing in Darfur'. These declarations echoed attempts to compare events in Darfur with Rwanda in 1994. Observers almost immediately claimed that the American 'genocide' declaration had more to do with the US elections than the reality of events in Darfur.' Today a report by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland published in the Lancet estimates (conservatively) 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the (primarily) USA and the UK. Most of these are civilians, women and children. Therefore by the Bush administrations own 'standards' we (I am a UK citizen) have committed genocide. I don't know about you but I do not like to be partially responsible for such war crimes, whether 100,000 deaths is genocide or not, it is an unforgivable crime. As a citizen in a democratic country we must take some responsibility for the actions of our elected governments. What would we expect of a person in a criminal regime to do? " continued.....

No comments: