American Blood Baath

America has become the new Baath party in Iraq. Besides our direct involvement with the shamefully complicit acts at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, the governments we have sponsored in that unstable country have themselves been found to authorize torture and illegal executions.

The sacredness of life complicates the use of number comparisons from one genocide to another. At the same time, human imperfection and modern desensitization may require uncouth methods to elicit the empathy and outrage required to cease great suffering.

The Iranian-based anti-Saddam "Documental Centre for Human Rights in Iraq" claims Saddam Hussein executed 600,000 civilians. Johns Hopkins' recently compiled study "Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey" (which can be found at www.thelancet.com) claims "excess deaths" from the present Iraq War fall within a range of 426,369 to 793,663. President Bush flatly denied the study while not giving his own figures, though it should be noted that last year he said only 30,000 people had died. Acknowledging the reality that any number over zero is unacceptable, these numbers, from the president's to Hopkins', are pornographically heinous. Saddam Hussein's 24- year reign saw, on average, just over 68 people executed daily. This number admittedly omits the 500,000 Iraqis that died in his eight-year war with Iran. Again, this being an emotionless numbers game, the comparison of numbers is no way to excuse any party, but condemns all parties who participate in games of war. Using Johns Hopkins' numbers, just over 439 people have died per day in Iraq.

The main problem with this comparison is the phrase "excess deaths," which means any death that would not have occurred had the war never happened. Many of these people could have been executed by Saddam had he stayed in power. Also, the numbers undoubtedly include a large number of combatants who may or may not still be living had America not replaced the Baath party as the largest purveyor of direct and indirect premature death.

It is safe to say both Saddam Hussein and the United States have caused massive amounts of unnatural Iraqi deaths. Does it matter much if one replaces another? People are dead. They no longer breathe. The morgues are full. The Iraqi Health Minister believes over 150,000 civilians have died since the initial invasion. Daily, bodies are fished out of the Tigris river and taken to morgues already filled to four or five times their capacity. Baghdad's central morgue director said one recent month saw about 1,600 corpses come through its facilities.

We rid the world of Saddam Hussein. Still, we seem unable to shake the vulgar vengeance of our administration. Its thirst for blood does not stop. Last weekend, tens of thousands of people futilely protested the illegal war. The question we must begin to ask now is how we can sacrifice. Solidarity isn't found on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Boycotts at gas stations and other economic strikes need to take place. A new wave of civil disobedience must be mounted because the present form of protest is taken as a bluff. The way to the heart of wealthy men is to stab them through the wallet.

Lest anyone is incapable of understanding what I am calling for, I am not advocating violent revolution. On the contrary, I am advocating an effective mobilization which is not contained on warm spring days, sunny afternoons, or weekends at all. I am calling for the form of protest that has been effective in previous movements in America, like those which ended the Vietnam war and gave minorities and women civil rights.

Why can we not be Kent State? Jesus performed miracles because he changed the way people met, moved, and thought as much as he did through his divinity. Protests, such as last weekend's, are great because they make a statement, but that protest did not stop the killing of 250 insurgents, the downing of a U.S. helicopter, and an unreported amount of civilian deaths Sunday. What is required to stop the war before this administration puts to shame the number of people killed by Saddam Hussein? Eventually, if ethical citizens of this country are bound to stop the war machines, tens of thousands will need to stand in the streets at rush hour, even if it means the pain of solidarity with Iraqi corpses run over by tanks.

Contact Kevin at: kevin.ressler@emu.edu