The London-Iraq Tragedy

How many dead when the count is done? 100? It is a tragedy. The right-wing will be sure to use these deaths to their advantage by drumming up more support for their illegal war. That is a tragedy, too. It means more death and more violence against innocent civilians. It means that the right-wing will go back-and-forth, head-to-head with the terrorists in a never-ending cycle of revenge that both sides frame as justice. That is also a tragedy.

As to death tolls, though, more than 100 civilians die per day in Iraq due to the war...that is per day. It is not a one-time event like today’s London tragedy. Why is there such a lack of focus on the deaths of Iraqi kids and such a tremendous display of support for the Londoners? Is it nationalism? Is it bigotry that allows us to identify with the Londoners on a personal level but not Iraqis? Is it that we choose to ignore third-world countries and the death, violence, and poverty prevalent there, while we remain isolated and relatively comfortable? Have we become callous to those who are not like "us?" Do we really value equality?

I like to think that the value of equality in most Americans is merely suppressed by those who control us---the mainstream media, the military-industrial-complex, the Man, or call it what you will. Is my suspicion correct? I like to think that there remains a latent, untapped positive potential in all of us. I like to think that once we free our minds from the propaganda, we are free to promote humanity, compassion, and equality.

Am I just a dreamer?

So many of us are grieved and saddened by the attacks in London, but we do not stop being grieved and saddened by all the rest of the atrocities that go on in this world daily. Unfortunately, the Shrub has done nothing to help stop those atrocities and his policies are adding to the number.

Thousands of humans are dieing daily from our actions and inactions. We deny poor children the world over a reasonable and safe life. We have done nothing to stem the deaths in Darfur. We are killing civilians every day in Iraq. How many Africans will die from AIDS today alone? How many people will die from malaria? How many people will starve to death today? How many women will die at the hands of a male relative?

We must change our focus from killing/arresting/torturing the terrorists to cutting off their reasons for existing. We have got to start supporting the moderate Moslims with more than words. We have to reduce our insatiable demand for oil so that we can get out of the Middle East. We need to spend $200billion building the infrastructure world-wide that will provide clean, safe water instead of spending it destroying a single country.

Can you imagine how much better off the entire world would be if instead of wasting the money in Iraq, we would have spent it on infrastructure in the poorest countries?

and what is the biggest issue at the G8 (and Live8)? Reducing the disparities between rich and poor.

Al Qaida depends on disparities between wealthy and poor as much as Republicans in the US do. It's their life blood. They're the other side of the same coin -- they want concentrated power and wealth in their hands. It's not a battle of the people agains the powerful. It's a battle over which small group of people will have all the power.

I don't believe these attacks are retribution for Iraq so muchh as they are a statement that terrorist groups want no progress in alleviating the misery that is helping them recruit angry people to fight on their behalf for concentrated political and economic power.