Selective Memory

[barbara100 at jps.net]

I'm not sure exactly how many died in the WTC attack, but I heard it reported yesterday on the radio that the numbers of civilian casualties in Afghanistan have now surpassed the number in the WTC attack.  I guess that makes it an official 'eye for an eye.'     



The full report can be downloaded or viewed at http://www.democracynow.org/


"A Dossier on Civilian Victims of  United States' Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan: A Comprehensive Accounting"

by Professor Marc W. Herold, Ph.D., M.B.A., B.Sc.

Departments of Economics and Women's Studies
McConnell Hall
Whittemore School of Business & Economics
University of New Hampshire
Durham,  N.H.  03824,  U.S.A.
FAX : 603 862-3383
e-mail: mwherold at cisunix.unh.edu 

December  2001

[...]

Mantra of the U.S mainstream  corporate media :   "the report cannot be independently verified"

[...]

"When people decry civilian deaths caused by the U.S government, they're aiding  propaganda efforts. In sharp contrast, when civilian deaths are caused by bombers who hate America, the perpetrators are evil and those deaths are tragedies. When they put bombs in cars and kill people, they're uncivilized killers. When we put bombs on missiles and kill people, we're upholding civilized values. When they kill, they're terrorists. When we kill, we're striking against terror." 


Abstract.  What causes the documented high level of civilian casualties---3'767 civilian deaths in eight and a half weeks---in the U.S air war upon Afghanistan?  The explanation is the apparent willingness of U.S military strategists to fire missiles into and drop bombs upon, heavily populated areas of Afghanistan. A legacy of the ten years of civil war during the 80s is that many military garrisons and facilities are located in urban areas where the Soviet-backed government had placed them since they could be better protected there from attacks by the rural mujahideen.  Successor Afghan governments inherited these emplacements. To suggest that the Taliban used 'human shields' is more revealing of the historical amnesia and racism of those making such claims, than of Taliban deeds. Anti-aircraft emplacements will naturally be placed close by ministries, garrisons, communications facilities, etc..  A heavy bombing onslaught must necessarily result in substantial numbers of civilian casualties simply by virtue of proximity to 'military targets', a reality exacerbated by the admitted occasional poor targeting, human error, equipment malfunction, and the irresponsible use of out-dated Soviet maps. But, the critical element remains the very low value put upon Afghan civilian lives by U.S military planners and the political elite, as clearly revealed by U.S willingness to bomb heavily populated regions. Current Afghan civilian lives must and will be sacrificed in order to [possibly] protect future American lives. Actions speak, and words [can] obscure: the hollowness of pious pronouncements by Rumsfeld, Rice and the servile corporate media about the great care taken to minimize collateral damage is clear for all to see. Other U.S bombing targets hit are impossible to 'explain' in terms other than the U.S seeking to inflict maximum pain upon Afghan society and perceived 'enemies': the targeted bombing of the Kajakai dam power station, the Kabul telephone exchange, the Al Jazeera Kabul office, trucks and buses f!
illed wit
 refugees, and the numerous attacks upon civilian trucks carrying fuel oil. Indeed, the bombing of Afghan civilian infrastructure parallels that of  the Afghan civilian.

[...]

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Toby G Levy tobylevy at juno.com
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 14:38:36 -0500
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Selective Memory


"We remember the cruelty of the murderers and the pain
and anguish of the murdered. Every one of the innocents who died on
September 11 was the most important person on earth to somebody. Every
death extinguished a world." -- resident bush

What about all the innocents who died before and after that date?  My
mourning includes but is not limited to the victims of one day of terror.

Toby

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"
- Mahatma Gandhi

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Original Message:
-----------------
From: Toby G Levy tobylevy at juno.com
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 14:38:36 -0500
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Selective Memory


"We remember the cruelty of the murderers and the pain
and anguish of the murdered. Every one of the innocents who died on
September 11 was the most important person on earth to somebody. Every
death extinguished a world." -- resident bush

What about all the innocents who died before and after that date?  My
mourning includes but is not limited to the victims of one day of terror.

Toby

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"
- Mahatma Gandhi

________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

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