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OPINION
| UPDATED April 18
In the Way
Innocents are paying the deadly
price of America’s wars
Congratulations to President George W. Bush,
the military-industrial complex and all Americans for another one
in the “W” column.
W. Won the War. Saddam Hussein is gone. Yeah!
Ask Ali Ismail Abbas Hamza to thank us, however, and he might not
be as upbeat.
Ali is the 12-year-old Iraqi boy who had both his arms blown off
by an errant U.S. missile. He also lost his parents, brother and
seven other family members in the attack. Ali’s crime was getting
in the way of American foreign policy by living in his own home.
CNN reported on April 16 that Ali faces numerous surgical operations
over the next weeks, possibly months. Doctors were not even able
to address his major concern — the loss of both limbs —
until they had treated the life-threatening burns that cover 15
percent of his body.
I’m sure Ali is thrilled Saddam is gone.
While Ali’s tragedy is unfortunate, we are taught to believe
it’s the price some must pay to achieve a greater good. After
all, Ali is just one little boy; his family was only one family.
A small price to pay for the huge favor we are doing the world,
don’t you think?
By the way, there are hundreds, probably thousands more examples
of deadly mistakes made by U.S. forces while “liberating”
Iraq. Ali’s case may be unique, but it’s not unusual.
And maybe someone can explain to Arab youth why death by U.S. missile
is preferable to death by suicide bombing while defending against
invaders.
It’s not outside the realm of imagination that someone like
Ali could one day become a suicide bomber.
Congratulations, President Bush. Another time-bomb in the works.
If Ali masterminds the sequel to Sept. 11, 2001, who will we have
to thank?
That was Wednesday.
Thursday, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. military sprayed
1.84 million gallons more of the herbicides Agent Orange, Agent
Pink and other lethal concoctions on Vietnam than was previously
thought, according to researchers at the Columbia University School
of Public Health. Their findings appear in the current issue of
the journal Nature. This journal, by the way, should be required
reading for those seeking a college degree, especially in the liberal
arts or sciences.
But wait a minute. The Columbia University School of Public Health?
Why does it take a university three decades to reveal this information?
The U.S. government should know exactly how much of the poisons
it spread. We insist that Saddam Hussein declare the details of
his weapons of mass destruction — which would include weapons
like Agents Orange and Pink — or suffer annihilation, but we
are allowed to keep silent about our own crimes?
Agent Orange and Agent Pink are dioxin-tainted defoliants the U.S.
military used on Vietnam from 1961 to 1971. They contained the most
dangerous form of dioxin, TCDD, which is associated with cancers,
neurological disorders, miscarriages and birth defects. The researchers
suggest that 2.1 million to 4.8 million people were living in 3,181
villages that were directly showered. If anyone else had done this,
it would have been called terrorism.
The crime of the Vietnamese villagers was living in the direct path
of U.S. foreign policy. Kind of like Ali, only 32 years earlier.
Could this be why much of the world sees the United States as the
greatest danger to global stability and a world-class hypocrite?
Could this help explain the great mystery of why France, Germany,
China, Russia, the United Nations Security Council, Turkey, Mexico,
Chile, the entire Arab world and almost all of Africa opposed U.S.
aggression in Iraq, notwithstanding the universally acknowledged
criminality of Saddam Hussein?
The Bush administration’s post-Sept. 11, 2001, strategic worldview
seems to be: “Get out of our way.”
Too bad Ali didn’t know this.
— Andy McMillen is a Spanish graduate student and a regular
columnist for The Shorthorn.
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