Are we not supposed to care about the deaths of Iraqi solders?

(More seriously, I care about everybody in this whole fucked up situation, because there's a whole lot of people never coming home again, no matter where home is.)

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-12278515,00.html

It's about a UK Army bomb/gun sniffing dog (Buster) in Iraq. Here is an interesting statement:

"The Iraqis we spoke to had denied having any weapons. But Buster found their arms even though they'd hidden them in a wall cavity, covered it with a sheet of tin then pushed a wardrobe in front of it.

"I'm very proud of him."

Buster's haul included AK47 assault rifles, a pistol, grenades, ammunition and bomb-making equipment.

Suitcases full of cash, a suspected stash of heroin and crack cocaine and pro-Saddam Hussein Ba'ath Party literature were also discovered in the buildings used by the mafia-style gangs."

crack?

http://www.proudrobot.com/hembeck/title-sgtrock.jpg

The trick here is that it's relatively unsound strategy to go into battle trying to minimize the opposition's losses.

Other than that, I think that whether a person cares for the deaths of anybody in war is up to them and their humanity. I personally find it kind of depressing that so many conscripts are being made to fight and die in this war. At least all of our folks are willing volunteers - I don't doubt that a great many of the Iraqis who have died so far had no desire other than to go home and sit the whole thing out as quietly as possible.

I wouldn't think that casualty figures for either side are something worthy of being 'trumpeted'. The goal is to neutralize the Iraqi military, not eradicate them into dust.

What I take issue with is the process by which the enemy soldier becomes not just "dehumanized," but essentially rendered invisible.

I understand that people are continually (and rightfully) decrying the killing of civilians, but then the language of battle is so cavalier w/r/t enemy soliders and no one, not even the Left, seems to object. I mean can you imagine if 100 Americans were killed as a bomb fell on their transport vehicle and what was reported was, "A batallion was destroyed"?

I know, I'm in full Polyanna mode here. But I just wanted to make plain the basic level of propaganda on which our news--all of it--functions.

At least all of our folks are willing volunteers

That statement skirts some issues of class and the U.S. Mil.

Guess it depends on whose fucking side you're on.

You think it's our side that's dehumanized the Iraqis? You may have noticed that the Pentagon lists the name, rank, post, and hometown of all our casualties. The Iraqis can't exactly do the same without making it blatantly obvious how badly they're losing.

I didn't realize this was a zero-sum game.

Spencer's full of shit regarding issues of class and the US Mil. A percentage are there for college money/job skills, but an even greater chunk are there because it's a way out of whatever podunk town they're in, and an even greater chunk (huge chunk) are there because their dad/grandad/... were (ALOT of officers I knew fit this description), and the greatest chunk is people who are there because they want to be there, either because the notion of serving your country or self-sacrifice means something or because they think it's cool to be in the Navy, Marines, Army, and, theoretically I suppose, the Air Force. Just because you can't imagine people having any sort of motivation beyond the material doesn't mean they don't.

http://www.intellnet.org/resources/american_terrorism/HighwayofDeath.html

"The Highway of Death" from Gulf War I. The US decided to annihilated the retreating Iraqi Army (and civilians caught up in it).

I tried that this week, but I just couldn't deal with it. I like the pics and the mag and the ads etc...

It is also possible that all particles may randomly start spinning with the same angular direction, doesn't mean it will ever happen.

Gulf War I was one of the most censored wars ever. A few years ago there was an effort to by some journalists to make a big scandal over newly released info on just how obscene the attack was, but it petered out (or was "suppressed"). As it stands, its one of the things that is common knowledge among lefties but hardly anyone else knows or cares about.

I don't think this kind of thing happens very often, on any side, but I guess war does weird things to people. See also this (after the stuff about Guantanamo Bay) for awful allegations about things that went on in Afghanistan. I don't know whether to trust it or not - Monbiot annoys me quite a lot but here he's really just reporting on what's in a documentary, so I guess it's whether to trust that or not. Does anyone know any more about this film, or its subject?

How about "Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman Bless Our Troops" ?

I don't recall any detail about the slaughter in the mainstream press at the time, when I was living in the US.