Reparations

A U.S. Army C-23 Sherpa aircraft flies over the Ziggurat of Ur, Iraq, on July 18, 2005.

Reparation refers to two different ideas:

1. Compensation for the cost of war

-War reparations: Payments from one country to another, possibly as compensation for starting a war under a peace treaty (for example, those made by Germany to the Allies under the Treaty of Versailles), but can also more controversially include payments demanded in exchange for peace or lack of invasion (regardless of the source of initial aggression).

2. Compensation for oppression

Examples:

-Holocaust reparations for victims of persecution under the Nazi regime.
-Compensation of Japanese Americans for internment during World War II.
-Reparations for slavery of groups or individuals.
[from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]


At www.iraqbodycount.org, the minimum amount of Iraqi civilians reported killed by coalition intervention since the start of the war in March 2003 is 35,161; the maximum amount, which includes unconfirmed victims, is 39,344. These numbers do not include people who are killed in non-military-related attacks. In fact, the U.S. military does not bother to keep count of the dead people they failed to protect during the past 3 years of "Operation: Iraqi Freedom." Those Iraqis, the ones that have died in the car bombings, the mosque bombings, and by the hands of death squads who now roam the streets of Baghdad unchecked, kidnapping and killing men, women, and children -- the people whose bullet-ridden bodies are dumped in the streets every night-- we may never know the number of those dead. What we will know, what we should know now, is that George Bush's promise that the invasion of Iraq will make Americans, and the rest of the world safer from terrorism, is rancorously, horribly, disgustingly and ABSOLUTELY false. His vapid assertion that our mission in Iraq is to successfully free its people from tyranny and herald in a new age of democracy is ridiculously arrogant at best.

Conquering Iraq will make us safer? We took the palms and mosques and the flowers and fruits and sandy bluffs of Iraq, dug a pit and set it all on fire. The next time the twin towers fall, the light of the fire I've just described will be reflected in the eyes of the perpetrators, who will feel no pity. I defy any polititian or pundit to tell me the world is safer from Islamic fundamentalist terrorism now that we've given the Osama Bin Ladens and the Mohammed Siddique Khans 35,161 more reasons to blow western civilization into the stratosphere. Yes, we will pay "reparations" for all of this. But reparations won't mend deep wounds of the heart and mind. Monetary compensation doesn't bring comfort to those whose families and lives are torn apart by war. How do you pay someone back for the death of a wife, a husband, a mother, father, sister or a brother? How much is a life worth? How much is a death worth? What is the price for losing the chance to fulfull a life's destiny? What is the price for losing the fundamental human right to the pursuit of happiness?

As of March 2006, the bill is already up to 251 billion dollars. By some estimates, the total costs of the Iraq War on the US economy could top $2 trillion. And that's not even including what we're going to have to pay afterwards for all that other stuff, oh, you know: breaking international law, causing the violent deaths of over 40,000 people including our own citizens, and irreparably damaging a beautiful, ancient country and culture, the site of Mesopotamia, the "cradle of civilization." After the invasion, looters ran rampant and unchecked in museums and archeological areas. According to not-so widespread reports, the ruins of Babylon were actually used as a military base.

From the Guardian:
"Troops from the US-led force in Iraq have caused widespread damage and severe contamination to the remains of the ancient city of Babylon, according to a damning report released today by the British Museum. "'This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain,'" says the report. Among the damage were cracks and gaps where somebody had tried to gouge out the decorated bricks forming the famous dragons of the Ishtar Gate, a 2,600-year-old brick pavement crushed by military vehicles, archaeological fragments scattered across the site, and trenches driven into ancient deposits. Military commanders set up their camp in the heart of one of the world's most important archaeological sites and surrounded the enclosed part of the ancient city. At least 2,000 troops were installed, daily passing iconic relics like the enormous basalt Lion of Babylon sculpture. "'These are world sites. Not only is what the American forces are doing damaging the archaeology of Iraq, it's actually damaging the cultural heritage of the whole world,'" said Lord Redesdale, an archaeologist and head of the all-party parliamentary archaeological group. Tim Schadla Hall, reader in public archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, said: "'In this case we see an international conflict in which the US has failed to take into account the requirements of the Hague convention ... to protect major archaeological sites - just another convention it seems happy to ignore.'"


From the BBC:
"The picture there is appalling. More than 150 Sumerian cities dating back to the fourth millennium BC - such as Umma, Umm al-Akkareb, Larsa and Tello - lie destroyed, turned into crater-filled landscapes of shredded pottery and broken bricks. If properly excavated, these cities - covering an estimated 20 sq km - could have helped us learn about the development of the human race."


Do you get my gist yet? The cost of this war is non-refundable. No money-back guarantee for the Ziggurat of Babylon. Credit card declined for 40,000 hearts that have stopped beating forever. The people of the middle east who now despise the people of America will not accept your Visa Check Card. "Operation: Iraqi Freedom" has been taken to a new level of bitter, choking irony.

The citizens of the United States allowed themselves to be manipulated, and ignored what was right in front of them as those metaphorical noses of the Bush Administration grew longer and longer; we rejected the simple lessons of history, the basic tenents of philosophy which unequivically state that the pre-emptive invasion of a small poor country by a large rich country is not only illegal and reprehensible, but will almost certainly lead to chaos and likely destroy relations between all the countries involved for many ages to come. The blood of thousands is on our hands, and shame on every person who claims the news is too depressing to watch, because YOU ARE MISSING IT; the past, present and future are passing you by while you flip past the front page to the celebrity gossip at the back. This is the great crime we will all pay reparations for, the crime of apathy. As for myself, I believe that recognition and acknowlegement IS a positive act that will bring us closer to understanding what we all are doing, here on this tiny ball of mud and seawater spinning through the infinite vastness of space, here, together.