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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels October 18, 2004 Unspoken spoils of pre-emptive war By Claire Krulikowski Talent A net hasn't been tossed wide enough over the concept and decision to launch "pre-emptive war" which was the decision of the Bush administration and has been a focus of the recent presidential election debates in the U.S. This is not merely a decision that can be decided by political decision nor a military decision, but it is one with deep ramifications speaking to the depth of a person's conscience. Neither of the U.S. presidential candidates debating spoke of the slaughter of innocents, that is, the deaths, mutilation, and trauma of the citizens of the country of Iraq whose lives are shattered by "shock and awe" campaigns drawn on boards and virtual reality computer screens in the planning rooms of distant Pentagons and White Houses in reaction to groundless accusations. As of this date I write this, there have been a minimum of 13,224 to a maximum of 15,292 innocent Iraqi's killed (see www.iraqbodycount.net). The number mutilated and wounded, the numbers driven crazed by personal trauma uncounted; the number no longer able to work, the number of those who have lost so much and are drawn by grief and anger to now feel and act on a hate they had not felt before and join the "insurgents" is uncounted and disavowed. A whole new generation is born and raised into conflict and antagonism and pain that had not existed prior. It is not merely our soldiers, it is not merely our families, it is not merely our industries, it is not merely our lives and lifestyles that matter. They matter. So, the pre-emptive invader must have proof for invading that is clear and undeniable - that is the "global test." War cannot be waged when there is doubt or lack of evidence justifying it. War cannot be waged for vengeance. War cannot be waged for profit. War cannot be waged to "move things along," war cannot be waged to prove one's might, war cannot be waged to prove righteousness - though all of these have rationalized many wars. While presidential contender Kerry used the phrase "global test" to describe this ability to withstand any criticism of fact, and to underscore that, in fact, the holes in the rationale for an Iraq invasion are big enough to drive brigades through, he missed making a big point when even he forgot to mention the "slaughter of innocents." The present administration has shrugged these numbers off, describing them as "collateral damage." Those people are, in fact, our neighbors. Imagine yourself, for a moment, living in the suburbs of Baghdad during this last year and a half, during the shock and awe air war, try sleeping in the middle of the night or eating breakfast or sending your kids outside to play or attend a wedding when you've no idea when a "precision attack" will land on top of you. Try feeling calm walking across a bridge to the market that is surrounded by foreign soldiers carrying big guns who are known to be nervous and have "accidentally" shot others living in your neighborhood. Traditionally, the phrase "spoils of war" has been used to describe the plunder invaders take from a country, yet the true spoils of war rot in the streets. The lives and deaths of the innocents are our responsibility, too. It is for them, we must take care before creating policies and launching offensives. It is for them we must be accountable and for them we are responsible. Claire Krulikowski is an author and free-lance writer living in Talent. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams