Arlington West: A weekly memorial constructed byVeterans for Peace Los Angeles in San Monica, CA. Each cross represents a US soldier killed in Iraq, with new crosses added each week.
The gruesome lesson from the Korean War and Vietnam show that nothing will be accomplished by sending more troops to Iraq, other than adding to the 2,876 soldiers killed and leaving more dead civilians.
Editor's Note: Despite the clear reality that the American public is completely fed up with the occupation of Iraq demonstrated in the November 7 election, we are witnessing the shocking reality that increasing our troops and commitment, not setting the stage for withdrawal, is receiving much attention in policy discussions and media coverage post election.
While there were other factors which influenced election results like Republican corruption and economic fears brought on by neo-liberal trade policies, exit polls showed little doubt that large majorities of voters want out of Iraq... and soon, and surely not an escalation of the war, as John McCain is calling for.
This anti-Iraq occupation sentiment comes amid rising US military casualties and extraordinarily violent daily events. Public disgust with US Iraq policy comes against the backdrop of 2,876 American soldiers killed, as well as the highly professional study of Iraq civilian deaths published in the journal Lancet -- a study praised by leading epidemiologists -- which shockingly concluded that between 400,000 and 700,000 Iraqis have died in the conflict.
What will escalation do to our troops and to the people of Iraq?
The answer seems pretty clear. Escalation, as Greg Zachary points out in the following article, is often a step of military and political desperation. And as Zachary writes, when more troops get sent in they invariably get worse.
-- Don Hazen, AlterNet Executive Editor
Source: AlterNet: War on Iraq: The Perils of Escalation in Iraq: A Grim History Lesson
No comments:
Post a Comment