Comparing Iraqi Victims with Victims from the Indian Ocean Tsunami

The recent destructive tsunami caused by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean was no doubt a terrible disaster. The human victims of the disaster certainly deserve rescue, support, and assistance by the entire world community. And the world community has rallied to support these victims in a massive way, which hopefully will be adequate to the cumulative needs of all the affected people.

Unfortunately, though, the Iraqi people have experienced a different sort of tragedy, which has killed well over 100,000 innocent Iraqis. The world has largely failed to rescue, support and assist the Iraqi people in their prolonged time of travail, which actually has been underway for well over a decade, but which is considerably worse since the U.S. led invasion and occupation of that ancient land. Let us make some comparisons between the tsunami and the invasion.

It appears that loss of life has been massive from both the invasion and the tsunami. The invaders have made little effort to engage in an accurate count, and have even suppressed attempts to count the total deaths by attacking and intimidating local Iraqi medical personnel. Yet, independent workers from abroad have scientifically estimated over 100,000 casualties from the occupation alone, which is roughly comparable to the known fatalities from the tsunami.

The tsunami is expected to cause disease and illness from contamination of drinking water. Yet, the occupation victims in Iraq have seen deliberate efforts by the U.S. and its allies to remove safe drinking water supplies to entire cities, to prevent Iraqis from obtaining water purification chemicals during the long period of sanctions, and to prevent critical, but basic medications from being made available to the Iraqi victims of invasion and colonization.

Tsunamis usually kill quickly by drowning and rarely severely injure people. However, Iraqi victims of the invasion have been subject to attacks by rifle fire from snipers, by blast from bombs including cluster bombs and artillery shells, by aerial attack with missiles from jets and helicopters, and other means. Countless Iraqis have been maimed, burned, paralyzed, and grievously injured.

Earthquakes may have aftershocks, but tsunamis do not return to attack their original victims or to attack rescuers or resisters of their destruction. The invading U.S. led forces attack "insurgents" who are resisting the brutal subjugation of Iraqis. Tsunamis do not break in doors in the middle of the night in order to detain, arrest, and confine innocent people for weeks, months or even years. Tsunamis do not detain people for lifetimes as the U.S. military leadership is attempting to do. Tsunamis do not torture people with focused technology in order to "break them" or cause them to divulge information which may not even be in the possession of the victim. Yet torture is organic and systemic to the very methodology of control of the invaded population by the U.S. led forces.

Tsunamis can result in physical renewal, but U.S. forces spread low-grade radioactivity called depleted uranium which can continue to degrade human areas of habitation and make people sick for 4.5 billion years. Depleted uranium and other toxic residues of the U.S. invasion can result in deformed babies, sick adults, and short, painful lives. Depleted uranium even sickens the invading soldiers, who are then abandoned by their own governmental and military leadership to lives of pain and chronic illness.

Tsunamis are disasters. Invasions are crimes against humanity. Tsunamis are unavoidable by human effort. Invasions and colonization must be resisted, prevented, and even punished after the fact.