It should be noted that the United States Government has also calculated a statistic for acceptable loss of American military personnel. The difference is that the bodies of American military personnel sent home in body bags will be called "heroes," while those of the Iraqi civilian population left to rot in city streets will be called "casualties of war."

If the distinguishing characteristic is that a "hero" is a person who lost their life for the "common good," then Iraqi civilians killed in the impending war are perhaps heroes of the highest regard - through the loss of their lives, America will be able to "win" the war against Saddam Hussein. This however is an unlikely reaction; though there will be formal apologies, the grim fact will remain that Iraqi lives will not be counted as carefully as American lives. This is a confounding reality; this is a disturbing certainty; and this is a tremendously telling fact.

On the heels of Colin Powell's affirmation of America's just war, there has been much discussion of increased threats of terrorism. The very close timing of Colin Powell's speech and the change in threat level to "orange" should not confuse the situation. Although one of the accusations against Iraq [as yet unsubstantiated, even by one of America's closest allies, Great Britain [5] ] is that they are aiding and abetting terrorists, any action taken against Iraq cannot be seen as an important step in the "War" against terrorism, nor as a step toward dismantling Al Qaeda. Though the words "Iraq" and "terrorism" are now finding themselves intermingled more frequently, their linguistic proximity does not result in an actual or factual corroboration of these two words. That being said, the American government has done embarrassingly little to complete the war against Al Qaeda [which began with action in Afghanistan against another "regime" which was in the habit of disagreeing with American hegemony] and so a small and empty victory in Iraq will subvert any looming criticism for a while - particularly when the media and the administration will propagandize this action as part of the "War Against Terror," of which it is certainly not.

When the United States mourns its own, it is with a sense of pride and hegemony. It is part of American culture for its families to work hard and earn what it takes to support themselves. When its societal members see suffering, it is most often with a sense of remorse and sadness; Americans truly are a caring and sensitive lot. But just as often, this remorse is mixed with a sense of morbid justification; a rationalization that the suffering seen on television is sad and disturbing and unfortunate, but also that it is avoidable if those involved took responsibility for what was going on, and committed themselves to rectifying the situation. The free market has bred a cruel immorality into the American psyche. Even with their own citizens, the gulf between the "haves" and "have nots" results in a logic of suffering as a "deserved" consequence of certain actions or inactions.

It is in this pale light that Americans see the fate of the Iraqi people: Saddam Hussein has lead them towards death and destruction. George Bush has said on many occasions that peace is, "In Saddam's hands." This of course is only partially true. Peace is also in George Bush's hands, and in the hands of the American people and its elected officials. There are many members of the U.N. Security council that understand this fully. Contrary to Mr. Bush's rush to war, are the positions held by Germany, France, China, Angola, Cameroon, Chile, and Guinea. These countries argue that the inspections should continue, with the intention of substantiating any claim that Saddam indeed does have weapons of mass destruction. Although admirable, this position will ultimately be ineffectual, because in a matter of weeks, George Bush will continue his irretraceable and obstinate course toward war; and as in the recent past, he will lie to the American public to rationalize his decision:

On February 10, 2003, George W. Bush stated the following:

Such an egregious and intentional deception should be an impeachable offense. The facts of the situation speak loudly and clearly, and they indicate that the United States of America has regarded the Iraqi people as nothing more than expendable bodies in an ineffectual political and economic stand against Saddam Hussein, commonly referred to as the "Sanctions against Iraq." It has been well known for nearly a decade that the sanctions against Iraq have resulted in a tremendous increase in human mortality rates in the region. The suffering of the Iraqi people has served Mr. Bush's purposes for quite some time. To propose to end this suffering through an immediate act of war, rather than by arguing for slight modifications to the imposed Sanctions over the last ten years, is now a sad irony; and a fact which Mr. Bush and his administration would rather not address.

In July of 1999, a study was released by Dr. Richard Garfield of Columbia University, which addressed the issues of increased morbidity rates in Iraq, particularly among children. The entirety of this study is available online at the following address: http://www.casi.org.uk/info/garfield/dr-garfield.html. The conclusion of the study was as follows:

Aimed at punishing Saddam Hussein, these sanctions have instead, punished innocent Iraqi civilians. The lies must stop. The truth must be told. George W. Bush must put an end to his blatant lies. How will this be done? The truth is, that Saddam Hussein is a dangerous man. This truth is not in any doubt. The other truth is that George W. Bush is a dangerous man. This truth, is also not in any doubt. To willfully ignore the degree to which the United States has allowed the Iraqi people to be an "expendable population" is tragic. To continue to brand Saddam a vicious monster while proclaiming American benevolence is an immoral and horrible lie and one which historians will later examine with a degree of sadness and awe.

In the coming weeks, Americans will mourn their own; and hopefully the loss of all innocent lives as well. In order for that to happen, the President of the United States must start telling the truth. Only then will Americans have the opportunity to grieve properly for the loss of life that has occurred in this region over the last decade; and come to terms with the degree to which the sanctions were responsible for such deaths. Only then will Americans fully understand the magnitude of death and suffering which military action will cause to the Iraqi civilian population; and only then will they hold their government responsible for the iniquities bred by its actions. High on this list of its clandestine American profligacy is the number of young men and women being sent to die in Iraq. The United States has ordered 77,000 body bags for this excursion [8]. The grieving process should already have begun, for soon the streets of Baghdad will run red with the human blood of American and Iraqi heroes.