Iraq: 5 Years on, nearly 4,000 US dead

I remember the foggy morning of September 11th, 2001 – and thinking that this tragic moment would largely mold the next 50 years of politics and conflict. It’s been 7 and half years since then, and on March 20th, it will be 5 years since the US invaded Iraq, the first conflict in which this country has waged a pre-emptive and aggressive war against a nation that had not attacked us. Another somber milestone is coming: according to Lunaville, the US military death toll in Iraq is approaching 4,000 brave men and women.

The economic and social costs of this war are nearly incalculable, but in the case that the war will cost $2 Trillion or more, the costs are better described as unimaginable. Sadly, all of this is not to mention the terrible suffering of the Iraqi people (here’s a link to documented casualties only), and the many implications that will follow from the devolution of American integrity and freedom that has occurred since September 11th.

How is Justice served in Spain?

Regarding the 11th of March train bombings in Madrid, colloquially (read: spanish-ly) known as 11-m, what is the ‘outcome’ of justice? The New York Times titled its leading article 7 Are Acquitted in Madrid Bombings while the Washington Post titled its piece 3 Guilty of Mass Murder in Madrid Attack. What are the different discourses here? While the former article focuses on certain miscarriages of justice, the post recounts what justice has been served. First of all, it is hardly clear whether those acquitted deserved punishment or not – the evidence against certain accused was circumstantial at best.

Perhaps this ‘justice’ reflects the true makeup of the terrorist operation – that there are some unmistakably involved in the planning and actions, but others only involved in minor operations. While it clear that those who are directly responsible for the loss of life should face justice, what about those further from the crime? Did they even know what they were involved in?

My point here is that we should hardly evaluate justice on its ability to distribute punishment, anger, and taxes. Justice is way too hard to define, and I do not believe that either the number of punished or acquitted is an appropriate metric. Then again, how good a metric are the 191 killed in these attacks?

Update: if you read Spanish, look here for an El País graphic on the sentencing.

Let’s privatize all wars… including the drug war

Noting the recent success of warfare privatization (a great documentary on warfare privatization – Iraq in Fragments, can be found here) in Iraq, leaders at the Pentagon have taken a clue, and now are researching the possibility of privatizing the [modern] War on Drugs, proudly begun by Nixon in 1971.

With a possible $15billion contract, who can resist the allure of arresting marihuana-smoking youth, detaining suspicious foreign nationals, and breaking down doors without warrants?  But really, why should we stop at the US? – already American military and private units are slash-and-burning through the South American rain forest, assisting questionable leaders with money and weapons, and are dropping chemicals on foreign agricultural zones.

Ahhhh, it’s beautiful

Cuba sets a good example

40 years on, and Cuba is willing to forgive and forget the murder of one of their greatest revolutionary leaders, Che Guevara. This, in contrast to the US gov’t harboring releasing Luis Posada Carriles, a known Cuban terrorist *but he didn’t kill amuricans!*

Does the USA see any irony here?

By the way, I’m back from my vacation in South Africa, which was good, and is a country strangely linked to Cuba, through Angola.