Since 2003’s USA intervention in Iraq, around 85,000 Iraqi civilians have been reported dead. On a daily basis, 15 civilians die from vehicle bombs and 35 die from executions/gun fire. That means that every 22 days, the population size of Scripps College is continually being swiped out.
Today, I read an article about a dead American girl. She was found around 5 minutes away from my house, 8 days after my 19th birthday. She’s still at the morgue without a correct ID, age, history. She will be buried with a headstone reading “UNK W N,” for unknown woman.
I can’t image 85,000 headstones with “UNK.” Can you?
A relative of mine decided to start over at another city/state without telling anyone. She was only “missing” less than 48 hours, but all those hours were painful. I searched through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children today. I was hoping I could identify a missing child, and stop the grief for a family. Of course, I wasn’t able to help.
Families of missing relatives survive on the hope that their relatives are still alive. This is why I am a promoter of the Iraq Body Count. It keeps a note on every life taken due to USA intervention. It compels me to abhor war.
Should the cost of War depend on human lives? I wouldn’t want it to be.
