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Afghani bombing victims ignored
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The U.S. war in Afghanistan and its support for the atrocities being committed by the State of Israel, must stop immediately.
Initially, the supposed goal of Bush’s war was to bring the perpetrators of Sept. 11 to justice. That plan quickly changed into eliminating the Taliban, something not outlined in our original task. Finally, with Bush’s State of the Union address, the war expanded to cover the entire globe-it is now a full-on attack against every nation or group that opposes the U.S. in any way.
At home, groups that protested against capitalist exploitation have been labeled “terrorist.” Habeas corpus was suspended as people of Arabic decent were imprisoned without charges, bail, or contact with the outside world; and our Attorney General labeled anyone who attempted to understand this tragedy outside the official U.S government party-line as an aide and abettor of terrorism. The terms are absolute.
In the words of the President, either you are “with us or against us.” There is no room for reason, no room to challenge the dictatorial authority of the executive branch. The media has bolstered the jingoistic fervor by compliantly obeying the charge of the U.S. government not to offer any critical coverage. Civilian casualties and the massive humanitarian crisis of starvation being played out in Afghanistan thanks to U.S. bombing are defined as non-news issues.
In an effort to curb this massive silence, I would like to print here some accounts of Afghani individuals whose lives have been ravished by U.S. military actions in their country. Their deaths have served no cause. They were not terrorists, they did not support terrorists. They were farmers, workers; innocent families living their lives in an impoverished nation.
Appropriately, we have heard and read the stories of U.S. victims of Sept. 11; let us now listen to the stories of the Afghani victims.
“In one bed lay Noor Mohammad, 10, who was a bundle of bandages. He lost his eyes and hands to the bomb that hit his house after Sunday dinner. Hospital director Guloja Shimwari shook his head at the boy’s wounds. ‘The United States must be thinking he is Osama,’ Shimwari said. ‘If he is not Osama, then why would they do this?’”
“Muhibullah, 40, led the way through his yard and showed three unexploded cluster bombs he is afraid to touch. A fourth was not a dud. It landed near his porch. ‘My son was sitting there…the metal went inside him.’ The boy, Zumarai, 5, is in a hospital in Kunduz, with wounds to leg and abdomen. His sister, Sharpari, 10, was killed. ‘The United States killed my daughter and injured my son,’ Mr. Muhibullah said. ‘Six of my cows were destroyed and all of my wheat and rice was burned. I am very angry. I miss my daughter.’”
‘I saw the body of one of my brothers-in-law being pulled from the debris,’ Mauroof said. ‘The lower part of his body had been blown away. Some of the other bodies were unrecognizable. There were heads missing and arms blown off….’ The roll call of the dead read like an invitation list to a family wedding: his mother-in-law, two sisters-in-law, three brothers-in-law, and four of his sister’s five young children, two girls and two boys, all under the age of eight.”
“The hospital’s morgue received 17 bodies last weekend, and officials here estimate at least 89 civilians were killed in several villages. In the hospital yesterday, a bomb’s damage could be chronicled in the life of one family. A bomb had killed the father, Faisal Karim. In one bed was his wife, Mustafa Jama, who had severe head injuries…. Around her, six of her children were in bandages…. One of them, Zahidullah, 8, lay in a coma.”
In all, the number of those killed in Afghanistan is estimated to be equal to or greater than the number killed in the World Trade Center atrocity. Those who will die in the future as a result of our bombing are yet to be determined. There will be many who starve this year because of the interruption of food aid. More will die next year because their crops, livestock, and homes have been destroyed by U.S. bombs. These clips have been hidden from the public because they are dangerous; they threaten the legitimacy of our government’s chosen path. Bush’s wars are an outrage; they’re illegal and immoral. “We the people” must not support the murder of more innocents.
[These quotes were compiled by Howard Zinn in an article "The Others" in the Feb. 11, 2002 issue of The Nation.]
Nate Williams
