Tuesday, October 25, 2005

2000 Dead

Smoke2,000 US soldiers killed in Iraq between March 13, 2003-October 25, 2005
(1,863 killed between 1957-1965 in Vietnam)
Who are the fallen soldiers?
198 Other US coalition soldiers killed

15,000+ US soldiers wounded in Iraq

26,000-30,000 Iraqi civilians killed in Iraq

100 journalists killed in Iraq

No WMDs found
No links between Saddam & Osama bin Laden (still free)
N
o greetings with flowers and flags
Plamegate/Treasongate
More global terrorism each year since the 2003 invasion of Iraq
M
ore sophisticated attacks against US and coalition troops each year
A
divided Iraqi state with a strong, Islamicist Shiite government linked to Iran
$203,463,100+ in US funds spent so far on Iraq....

CAUSA BELLI by Andrew Motion

They read good books, and quote, but never learn
a language other than the scream of rocket-burn.
Our straighter talk is drowned but ironclad:
elections, money, empire, oil and Dad.

Copyright © 2003, Andrew Motion, on PoetryInternational.com
--
Andrew Motion is the Poet Laureate of the UK

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for stopping to note this. I wanted to write "ugh", but decided that was too little to say.

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  2. Mendi, "ugh" captures it. I think the comparison in terms of casualties in Vietnam (where it took 8 years to reach anything close to the death toll here) is something the media refuse to address (and of course the administration and its allies also don't want to broach at all). I've read people cheering the recent passage of the new "constitution," but it's so deeply flawed, it's as if the substance of what's really going on is far less important to many people than the outward appearances. And the Iraqi people and the US enlisted people are the ones who are paying the immediate price.

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