We might also do well to recall Jackson’s eloquent words at Nuremberg on the principle of universality: “If certain acts of violation of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us.” And elsewhere: “We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well.”
Iraq War Facts & Stats »
US soldiers killed: 4,481
Seriously wounded: 32,195
Psychological damage: 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3-4 months of returning home.
Journalists killed: 229
Iraqi Police & soldiers killed: 10,125
Estimated Iraqi civilian deaths: Between 108,000 and 150,000 although there’s criticism that that only includes deaths reported by media agencies.
Coalition deaths: 318
Private contractor deaths: 550
Approved & spent: $900 billion taxpayer money through Nov 2010.
Lost & unaccounted for: $9 billion and $549.7 million in spare parts shipped to contractors.
Lost and reported stolen: $6.6 billion dollars earmarked for Iraq reconstruction, reported on June 14, 2011 and called “the largest theft of funds in national history.”
Missing: $1 billion in equipment provided to the Iraqi security forces.
Mismanaged & wasted: $10 billion, per Feb ‘07 Congressional hearings.
Halliburton charges Pentagon has called unreasonable & unsupported: $1.4 billion
Annual air-conditioning cost in Iraq & Afghanistan: $20.2 billion
Percent of professionals who have left Iraq since 2003: 40%
Iraqi physicians before the Invasion: 34,000. Those who left: 12,000. Those murdered: 2,000.
(Source: kateoplis)
BLOGGING via TYPEWRITER.: Hey, I wonder if any of the Republicans (and Democrats, for that... »
Hey, I wonder if any of the Republicans (and Democrats, for that matter) who were SO… VERY… OPPOSED to the United States playing a SUPPORTING ROLE in this six-month campaign to HELP the Libyan rebels (who BTW ASKED for help) topple the Qaddafi regime — I wonder if they will now turn around and say…
Dude, “lies” are different from “very very bad intelligence”, but yeah.
There Is Much More to Say »
After the assassination of bin Laden I received such a deluge of requests for comment that I was unable to respond individually, and on May 4 and later I sent an unedited form response instead, not intending for it to be posted, and expecting to write it up more fully and carefully later on. But it was posted, then circulated. It can now be found, reposted, at http://www.zcommunications.org/my-reaction-to-osama-bin-laden-s-death-by-noam-chomsky.