6000 Civilian Deaths in Iraq in May and June
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Send to a friend by YMAuthor: Kelly Zak
Were there really that many casualties in two months??
The United Nations released a report this week stating that in the months of May and June this year, there have been at least 6000 Iraqi civilians killed. I was shocked when I first read this report, not because of the number of deaths, but because I began to doubt the media outlets in which I trust. I view these specific outlets, the BBC, CBC, Globe&Mail, because I have instilled a certain amount of trust in them. But, I began to doubt their reliability because there was no way I could miss that many civilian casualties.
To give myself proof in one direction or another, I began a google search starting with May of this year. Without looking too deep, I found: May 3rd - 10 deaths in a suicide bomb, May 8th - 12 people in car bomb, May 10th - 14 killed in an "unknown" explosion, May 14th - 20 deaths in various incidents. I stopped at this because the numbers kept getting higher and I was becoming more and more upset.
Now I know these figures don't add up to 6000, even though the report said there were nearly twice as many deaths in June, but considering I only checked out one website, I became convinced that if I looked hard enough, I could account for all 6000 deaths. The conclusion I drew from this is that I was wrong to blame my favorite news agencies; they are reporting everything. So why did this number shock me so? "I follow the news every day and would never miss a story about a number of deaths in Iraq." Then it hit me, I've become accustomed to these stories. I'm embarrassed now to admit it, but I've just been glancing over these stories and not putting much thought into them because they are so common. Every day there is a story about 10, 20, 50 deaths, but they have been repetitive. I liken it to a smoker; you spend $10 daily on a pack a smokes, which isn't much, but when you realize you spend over $3500 a year, you start to think of what you could have purchased for that amount.
After I got over the fact how de-sensitised I've become, I began to realize that I'm not the only one. The whole world has become just like me. On September 11, nearly 6000 innocent people died in one morning and everyone goes nuts, but spread that over the course of two months and it goes nearly unnoticed. So unnoticed in fact, that the United States re-elects the man responsible for those deaths.
I really think its time to re-visit what is happening in that country. Whether the United States' motives were truly to help this country re-build or not, they have made it a far worse place. The innocent people living there deserve far better than to lose 6000 of their own people in just two months time. I, for one, will not disregard these daily reports anymore, but will try to consider them fresh and as a reminder of the fear that these people live with everyday.
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6000 Civilian Deaths in Iraq in May and June
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