Collateral Damage

[anigo]

Normally I try to avoid as much of the war in Iraq as I can. Call it irresponsible, call it head in the sand, call it whatever you want. It's the way I deal with it. I don't agree with it, I can understand why things happen sometimes, I can't necessarily justify them, but well... there it is.

Today on the news there was an article about an "alleged" massacre in a town called Haditha. Depending on who you want to listen to, either a bomb blew up a military vehicle, killing a US soldier and between that, and the fire-fight that ensued afterwards at least 15 locals were killed; or, a bomb blew up a military vehicle, killing a US soldier and ticking off the rest of the soldiers who promptly went in to two of the nearest houses and executed the residents, many of whom were still in their jammies.

Regardless of which story you believe, included in the dead were Abdullah, a four year old boy who was shot in the chest; Mohammed, an eight year old boy who bled to death after being shot in the arm; Nour, a 14 year old girl who was shot in the head; Seba, a 10 year old girl who was shot in the chest; Zeinab, a five year old girl shot in the chest and stomach; and Aisha, a three year old girl who was shot in the chest.

Now, yanno, maybe I'm jaded, but I can see an 11 year old boy taking up arms and killing a US soldier. Hell, I could probably even stretch my imagination to see an 11 year old girl - I'm all for equal rights and such. But can you please tell me just how much of a threat is a three year old girl? Or a four year old boy?

Interestingly enough, the article is featured in a number of Canadian media sites, including the Globe and Mail found
here and the CBC found here But it took me a while to find it in the US media here. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong media sources.

Don't mistake the above for US bashing. It's not. The US as a whole is as responsible for all of this as Canada as a whole is a bunch of fishermen living in igloos. But for Pete's sake. A 4 year old boy?

I don't care what country you belong to. That's wrong.

Comments

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

If we assume it was accidental then it was criminally irresponsibe,
if not, then just criminal