bullshit

A reddit link says "Whatever your opinion on the war in Iraq, you have to admire the men and women over there who give their lives to serve their country, and especially this man, who just died at the age of 18 (cnn.com)".

I say BULLSHIT.

I don't enjoy death (although I might enjoy it if GW Bush and Cheney were both executed after trial) and I don't normally wish death on anyone.

However, as a practical matter, the longer americans stay in Iraq and Afghanistan, the more civilian deaths they cause. Despite the drumbeat and news of suicide bombers, the american occupation is still the direct cause of more than half the death in those countries. That will continue while the Americans stay in those countries (and a large minority kill Iraqis with impunity and a smaller minority rape Iraqi women and children, also with impunity).

Americans who go to Iraq and fight in that immoral war are directly responsible for the U.S. staying in that country, killing its citizens, raping its children, and stealing its land and oil. They may be TOO DUMB to understand the degree of their responsibility, but that doesn't excuse that responsibility. They're still raping and killing every day.

So, while I hate the thought of young life snuffed out unnecessarily, unfortunately, in this case, it is necessary for many americans to die. The more americans die in Iraq, the higher the likelihood that the american public will finally exorcise itself of the evil in the white house and finally leave Iraq. There will still be death in Iraq when the U.S. leaves, and it will be ENTIRELY the fault of the U.S.A., but the U.S. can stop directly shooting up Iraqi civilians. And then it can expend its wealth to bring good where it had previously brought death.

The more americans die now and Bush is finally repudiated, emasculated and left completely powerless, the less likely there'll be an attack (perhaps nuclear, by the Israelis, but if not nuclear, almost certain to release radioactive materials into the atmosphere) on Iran. If it's not a nuclear attack there is certainly going to be a long term Iranian guerilla war against the U.S.A. and the U.S.A. will entirely deserve what it gets. More dead americans in Iraq now means fewer (perhaps by a factor of 10 or more) dead Americans (and, the dead Iranians and Iraqis next year who will die in ratios of perhaps 100 for every dead American, although if the war goes nuclear, then the ratio will be 1000 to 1 or higher).

Let me be clear. The end-goal here is to minimize deaths. American deaths should be minimized, but not at the cost of Iraqi, Iranian, Saudi, Afghan lives. While the Americans are in Iraq (and look at Iran for more blood), there will be wasted lives. Most of those lives, at a ratio of perhaps 500 to 1 are non-american lives. So my first concern is to stop unnecessary non-american deaths. Americans die at too low a rate to worry about for now. When American deaths in war approach 5-to-1 I'll start worrying about dying Americans. For now, however, Americans are causing 200 to 500 times more dead for every dead American. Clearly, the first thing to do is get the Americans out of the theater so they stop killing civilians. Also, so they stop thinking about stealing the oil under their boots.

Once the Americans are out, the Iraqis will fight among themselves, someone sufficiently strong and ruthless will arise, someone like Saddam Hussein, in fact. That someone will kill perhaps 10-50,000 Iraqis in his rise to power. Even at the high end that's 1/4 the number of Iraqi dead under the Americans IN A SINGLE YEAR.

At the end of that process, the Americans can pay Yen for Iraqi oil. Or go without. They have NO RIGHT to any of it. They only have the right to pay market price plus war reparations (2-3 billion dollars at least). And maybe, after 50 years, if the american military stays at home and oppresses only its own people, the world will forget, or perhaps forgive this atrocity. By then I'll be 90 or, more likely, not around anymore to remind people of American iniquity.