by James Glaser
April 7, 2003

That is right, take that look around your home or apartment and look at what you have to be thankful for. Think about your loved ones, your momentoes from your parents, and all the little things that you have collected in this life, all the memories. Be thankful that you are not looking out your window and seeing foreign tanks coming down your road. Be thankful that your city or town isn't bombed to a rubble.

Red Cross—"Iraq Casualties Too High To Count" This headline in a war that our own President has said that we were not attacking the Iraqi people, but liberating them. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people from Baghdad alone. In Iraq they don't have nursing homes and your aged parents are at home with you. What happens to them when the chaos is so great you must leave?

In Iraq there are no insurance companies to cover your losses. I saw a news clip showing American troops going through someones house searching for whatever. We moved these people out for their own protection. Chances are great that when these people do get back, anything they did have of value, will have been looted.

Look at your home and think about what you could carry with you if you had to flee. If you are carrying your young children or your parents, you are not going to get much of anything. Remember we are not at war with these people and when the fighting ends we want these people to be our friends.

British Secretary of Defense Geoff Hoon said on Saturday that the Iraqi mothers of children killed by cluster bombs would "some day" thank Britain for their use. The man must be a total madman to believe that. Britain is the major partner in our coalition of the willing.

It looks as if this "War" with Iraq will be over soon, although many more Americans will get killed and thousands of Iraqis. Even our own troops will not see a lot of honor in our victory. I have seen clips that show American Officers shaking their heads and expressing disbelief that their tanks are attacked by pickup trucks. Iraq is a tiny country with no Air Force or Navy. Iraq's tanks shoot less than half as far as ours, their troops have no body armor, and their intelligence is nonexistent.

America has satellites, U-2 spy planes, and even unmanned predator aircraft. We know Iraq's troop movements before their generals do. We have over 1,000 of the most advanced aircraft the world has ever seen. Iraq has to rely on hand held binoculars to see what we are doing. When you hear that 3,000 Iraqis are killed and 1 American lost his life or a report is given that 500 Iraqis are killed and no Americans, you know we are in a "Turkey Shoot."

I am not casting aspersions on either the courage nor the bravery of our troops. I know no matter what kind of fire fight you are in, you will think you have been in the Battle of the Bulge. If the truth be told though, America is a super power and we attacked a pitiful country with a brave but equally pitiful army. Our casualties were caused by our own friendly fire and accidents as much as by hostile action.

General Tommy Franks said, "We don't do Body Counts." Nobody knows how many thousands of Iraqi troops have been killed. 2,000 to 4,700 pound bombs do not leave much of a body to count and we have dropped thousands of these bombs. Today it was reported that our planes have made over 25,000 attacks on Iraq so far.

There is a group that does keep a count of Innocent Iraqis killed so far. You can check it out at Iraqi Body Count at http://www.iraqbodycount.net/. They explain their methodology for the count they give and even have a high and low number because different sources give different numbers. At noon, Sunday April 6 the high was 1049 and the low 876. No one disputes the fact that thousands and thousands of innocent people in Iraq have been wounded and maimed so far in this war. Isn't it a good thing we were not targeting civilians?

No one will ever be able to put numbers on the amount of people over there that have suffered psychological damage. That goes for our troops too. At least American troops will have the Veterans Administration Hospital to seek help from. The experience the Veterans Administration has gained in every war since WW1 helping Veterans with the horrors of war is invaluable. The children of Iraq will not have that help.

George Bush and America believe we have the right to kill and maim thousands of innocent Iraqi people. We believe that we have the right to destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of the Iraqi people and inflict untold horror on the children of Iraq, with this unprovoked war.

I don't buy that. Sure we have the right to defend America, but I don't believe we are doing that. I believe that this war will hurt America way more than it can help it. There is only so much hate we can build up in this world before it comes back on us.

Any one that thinks someday Iraqi Mothers will thank us for this war, should have their heads examined. I don't ever want the President nor any of his staff to tell me they are "prolife."