How valuable is human life?
Ana Velitchkova
Eye on Earth
Apprehension of terrorist acts has caught people in such a numbness of panic they have forgotten what it is to be humane and what it means to ask the questions, which, if answered, would lead them to understanding the essence of their problems.
Many have stopped respecting human life other than their own and their compatriots. "We don't do body counts," stated Gen. Tommy Franks from the U.S. Central Command.
Just because a U.S. general can't count doesn't mean the number of deaths accompanying U.S. military actions has stopped growing bigger and bigger.
An organization called Iraqbodycount.net has been tracking the number of civilian Iraqi deaths recorded since the war began last March. The methodology they employ uses data supplied by English-speaking mainstream news sources, only counting those reports confirmed in more than one article. Since these sources often provide a minimum and maximum estimate, Iraq body count also computes a minimum and a maximum. As of Oct. 28, their minimum number was 7,776 civilians dead, with a maximum of 9,587 slaughtered innocents. The victims of Sept. 11 were 2,752, according to the New York Times.
The number of innocent civilians killed in the first episode of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan was some 3,400 individuals, according to the research of Professor Marc Herold who employed a methodology similar to that employed by Iraqbodycount.net.
In a documentary that cannot be purchased in the United States titled "Afghan Massacre: Convoy of Death," director Jamie Doran describes the massacre of as many as 4,000 Afghanistan prisoners of war, who after surrendering to the alliance forces are, according to international law, protected by the Third Geneva Convention of 1949. After surrendering, some 7,000 Taliban POW were transported in sealed containers. Most of them suffocated and others died when bullets were fired into the containers in order to make holes for ventilation. Those who survived the trip were questioned for information regarding al Qaida.
The dead were searched and then along with those barely alive, sleeping or passed out from days of traveling in steel cars in a desert without food and water were reloaded into containers and sent to Dasht Leile where they were summarily executed without trial and buried in mass graves under the sand. According to some of the witnesses interviewed, many of whom have died since the documentary was first released a little over a month ago, American soldiers were not only present at the site of the atrocity, but as the head of Alliance forces they are directly complicit in this massacre. The drivers of this convoy of death and those who recorded the number of prisoners of war on behalf of the Alliance forces both suggest some 3,000 to 4,000 people were killed in these graves. These individuals simply no longer exist; they have "disappeared."
This kind of action is considered a war crime and is subject to the rulings of the International Criminal Court. However, the United States does not recognize this court. I wonder why.
Last week, when I asked retired Gen. Anthony Zinni, U.S. Central Command for the Middle East, how these people could simply disappear, he responded with a joke. He told me he hadn't been there and didn't know anything. He assured me he wasn't hiding them in his basement. The audience present in the Student Center Ballroom laughed.
As I have been unable to find the number of fatalities inflicted upon the Iraqi military, my next question was the ratio between American and Iraqi soldiers killed in the second episode of the war on terrorism. After all, he was somebody I rarely have the chance to talk to - a U.S. general - so I wanted to gain from his expertise. He informed me counting dead enemies wasn't his job. His job was to kill as many enemies as possible, the more the better.
I suppose this was intended to be a joke as well because the audience applauded! At least I hope it was only a joke! Anyway, I was appalled.
What kind of people are you, you who applauded?
How can you go to bed at night? Aren't you haunted by the fear of revenge for those whose deaths you laughed at? Don't you realize your lack of empathy and your arrogance are a major cause of terrorism? Are you really so naïve as to presume dead and wounded mean nothing to the parents, uncles, sisters and clans to whom they belong? Don't you realize you condemn your own children to violence and death?
Eye on earth appears every Thursday. Ana is a graduate student in foreign language and literature from Bulgaria. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.
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