170,000 dead estimated in the Iraq war

A private British organization has released a new report on casualties ahead of Wednesday’s 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The non-governmental organization Iraqi Body Count says over 170,000 Iraqi civilians and military personnel died in fighting or from acts of terrorism since the start of the war on Iraq.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20130318_05.html

The attack on Iraq by the United States was a grievous wrong. Its allies were all vehemently opposed to it. The attack and the killing and damage which have occurred as a result amount to an atrocity which America has not been able to admit nor confront politically.

America is bitterly despised throughout much of the world. I think it is a duty for Americans to speak about what happened and not just pretend like it didn’t happen.

Every day one sees the vast amount of gluttony and waste as Americans burn resources like there’s no tomorrow.

Yes, there are some plans to improve public transit, increase bike lanes, etc. but it seems paltry in comparison with the vast scale of the wastefulness.

It is wrong to kill. It was wrong to disturb the situation in Iraq as it was before the attack. The country was ruled by an authoritarian strongman but was far more stable than it has been for the past ten years. It is now estimated that the full cost of the Iraq debacle to the United States will exceed $4 trillion. No intelligent, honest person could not consider the failure of leadership of the United States as a serious, if not grave, problem.

It is wrong to kill. The fundamental law of nature is that one only strikes against another in self-defense, and that such a strike is proportional to that received. Iraq was not close to being a threat to the United States. The government with the cooperation and complicity of the mainstream media lied to the American people. There has been no full process of atonement. Those who misled America and who started the war should be in jail. Every member of government and media who was complicit with the lie should be out of work.

It is wrong to kill.