Our Shame

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We do not know how many children have been maimed in Iraq. We do not know how many children have died in Iraq. It is most certainly a large number. Is it 10,000? Is it 50,000? As one of our generals has said, “We don’t do body counts.” There is an answer to the question, “Why have these children died?” The answer is “unavoidable collateral damage.” Many have also died at the hands of the insurgents; terrorists, if you will. But those dead from “collateral damage” are ours. Think about that for a minute. If you were a parent and an Iraqi general said to you “your child died from unavoidable collateral damage.” How would you feel? We cannot escape this. It is the same situation that we experienced after Vietnam where over a million Vietnamese civilians died. This is collective guilt.

Yet we do not change our direction. We continue to escalate the conflict now bringing in awesome gunships and airpower against insurgents who filter through the civilian population. It will mean more collateral damage. It will mean the death of more children.

The time is long past for the American people to demand an end to this infanticide. We have not brought peace and democracy to Iraq; we have brought death and destruction. We do not support a culture of life. We support a culture of death.