ANOTHER AMERICAN GENOCIDE
Poll: Civilian toll in Iraq may top 1M

From the Los Angeles Times courtesy of AlterNet:

According to the ORB poll, a survey of 1,461 adults suggested that the total number slain during more than four years of war was more than 1.2 million.

ORB said it drew its conclusion from responses to the question about those living under one roof: "How many members of your household, if any, have died as a result of the conflict in Iraq since 2003?"

Based on Iraq's estimated number of households -- 4,050,597 -- it said the 1.2 million figure was reasonable.

There was no way to verify the number, because the government does not provide a full count of civilian deaths. Neither does the U.S. military.

Both, however, say that independent organizations greatly exaggerate estimates of civilian casualties.

ORB said its poll had a margin of error of 2.4%. According to its findings, nearly one in two households in Baghdad had lost at least one member to war- related violence, and 22% of households nationwide had suffered at least one death. It said 48% of the victims were shot to death and 20% died as a result of car bombs, with other explosions and military bombardments blamed for most of the other fatalities.

Click here for the rest.

I titled this post "Another American Genocide" not only because the US invasion has directly caused hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, but also because it unleashed the relentless wave of sectarian violence now making Iraq another "killing fields" on par with Pol Pot's bloody reign over Cambodia--we are responsible for all this. Also, I use the word "another" because this isn't the first time: the US virtually destroyed its own native population, as well as killing millions of black Africans in the slave trade. And let's not forget all the Vietnamese we wantonly killed, either.

For me, for my own sense of morality, one million equals genocide.

That's what this is all about. It's not about patriotism. It's not about supporting the troops or fighting terror. It's not about 9/11, which is now a drop in the fountain by comparison. It's about wanton slaughter for no reason that I understand or recognize at all.

So now the United States is about wanton slaughter. When I think about this too much I can barely contain my sadness.

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