Posted by Benjamin on: 01.23.2008 /
This past week in Iraq: Third week of January ‘08. Week 252 of the US$1 Trillion (that’s $1,000,000,000,000) illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq–Civilian deaths (an abridged selection):
- Monday, January 21–39 dead, including:
-Baghdad: man killed by US forces in the course of a raid.
-Mosul: US air strike kills 2 policemen; 2 bodies.
-Kalar: gunmen attack house, kill mother and 13-year-old daughter.
- Sunday, January 20–17 dead, including:
-Baquba: 2 children die in bomb explosion by their house; gunmen kill Awakening member.
-Falluja: teenage suicide bomber kills 6 at Awakening feast.
- Saturday, January 19–32 dead, including:
-Balad: mortars target Ashura pilgrims, kill 5, including 2 children.
- Friday, January 18–37 dead, including:
-Baghdad: roadside bomb kills woman and child.
-Nasiriya: 16, including 2 children, killed in clashes with Soldiers of Heaven cult during Ashura festival.
-Baquba: 2 children die in booby-trapped house.
- Thursday, January 17–36 dead, including:
-Diyala River Valley: US forces kill 3 (2 women and 1 man) during raid.
-Jalawla: US and Iraqi forces kill 7 during overnight raid -5 of them a family of Kurds living in Shaykh Bawa village. When the family did not open their door out of fear, the forces broke down the door and opened fire.
- Wednesday, January 16–26 dead, including:
-Khan Bani Saad: suicide bomber blows herself up outside mosque killing 8. Civilian is shot dead by US forces, the 24th this month.
- Tuesday, January 15–16 dead, including:
-Baghdad: 5 primary school children are struck by official’s convoy and are then caught in ensuing gunfight between guards and Iraqi soldiers.
Total civilians killed by U.S. soldiers this month: At least 29.
But don’t worry. There not real. They’re just numbers in a blog post, from place names that mean nothing to us. Whatever you do, don’t stress about it.
On the other hand: Here’s a little dare for you. Choose a story above, or any other story from the full account of this past week at iraqbodycount.org which resonates with you, and let yourself sit with it, and try to imagine the reality of it, for a mere 10 minutes. I mean turn off the t.v., the phone, get somewhere quiet, and just sit with that particular story, and those particular people, and use your imagination, and try to fill in details, and emotions, and colors, and sounds, and back story, and so forth. And then share with us what that was like.
7 Responses to "What your U.S.$4 Billion/week is buying, part 252; and a dare."
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Comment by: Rachel
1 01/23/08 4:45 PM | Comment Link |Benjamin, thank you for continuing to put these numbers before us. One moment when I experienced the reality was while reading Shane Claiborne’s book “The Irresistible Revolution.” He describes visiting a hospital in Baghdad and seeing a badly wounded little girl who was shaking uncontrollably and saying over and over, “What did I do to America?” I actually read that account twice and it was only the second time that it hit me full force and I starting weeping with shame and grief. I think that was the final moment when I completely lost my faith in the Empire.
Comment by: Benjamin
2 01/23/08 9:47 PM | Comment Link |Rachel,
Wow, that’s powerful. Thank you for sharing that.
I am going to have to read Shane’s book, which, alas, sits on my bookshelf unread. One of these days.
Comment by: Jim Henderson
3 01/24/08 1:13 AM | Comment Link |If these numbers took place in the US - we would revolt.
As long as it is “over there” we dont feel impacted
A very weird situation
Comment by: Staci
4 01/24/08 2:54 PM | Comment Link |I did this several months ago when a relative sent photos and a story from Afganistan. He is a doctor and volunteered his medical services to the army. The photo was of 3 boys - 2 brothers and a cousin - ages 12, 11, and 9. They were playing as kids this age do. And they saw something shiny and cool looking that they just had to check out, ’cause that’s what kids do. But it was an “unexploded device” not some random garbage. (Apparently a pretty regular thing to happen.) My relative treated them, but they needed a real hospital, so he called the nearest one and described the wounds. Since that hospital was about to change hands from one coalition country to another, they said they could only take one child and said he could treat the others. So, he decided he’d just take all 3, along w/the father of the brothers because, as he said, what are they going to do - turn away the cute and badly burned/wounded children? (He took the father because he had no access to a phone and couldn’t read, so it would be really difficult to contact him about the status of the boys.)
As I looked at the boys I kept thinking they looked like they could be my son’s friends. And that what they were doing is exactly what he would be doing. And what would happen if no one SAW him? What would happen if no one really SAW these kids? How many hundreds or thousands go unseen?
Comment by: Benjamin
5 01/24/08 3:09 PM | Comment Link |Staci
Indeed.
The super sad thing in a world of sad things is that we are still producing and deploying the cluster weapons which end up sitting around looking like toys when they don’t explode and killing little children, as they have done for 40+ years. Today (Thursday) I feel *extremely* cynical–thinking “It doesn’t matter. the powerful will continue to murder and greviously injure the weak to maintain their own comfort and power. There’s nothing can be done about it. We don’t speak out, or try to change things, from any actual hope of final good outcomes, but rather just as a way of trying to distance ourselves from our own guilt”
(I can become particularly jaded sometimes. Like thinking “McCain will become president, we’ll see a draft instituted, and then *maybe* we’ll start to see some actual public outcry, because it’s finally affecting us”)
Comment by: Staci
6 01/24/08 5:37 PM | Comment Link |I understand the cynical thinking. But lately I’ve been seeing some little sparks of hope - things like my relative pushing buracracy aside to help those children; receiving a flyer for a major business best practices conference in NY w/Muhammad Yunus as a featured speaker; the college students sitting outside my window right now with peace flags and bongos; and other little incrimental things that I hope, when added up, could be fanned by the right breeze into a blaze of hope. (Man, that sounds way more optimistic than I usually am, but those kids w/their bongos are really putting me in a great mood.)
Comment by: Benjamin
7 01/24/08 7:36 PM | Comment Link |Hooray (picture me waving tiny little “hope” flag on a stick, with an unreadable expression on my face). Here’s to hope, optimism, and other insane but much-to-be desired things.