Re: [WAR] New Postwar Memes

From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Sun Apr 13 2003 - 10:00:16 MDT

  • Next message: Mike Lorrey: "Re: [WAR] New Postwar Memes"

    --- Michael Wiik <mwiik@messagenet.com> wrote:
    > 3) 'There's no way to know how many Iraqi soldiers
    > and civilians have
    > died'. I hear this now every day on ABC news after
    > they show their chart
    > with coalition casualties.
    >
    > Well what about a census? There's no way to know...
    > What happened to the bodies? There's no way to
    > know...
    > Surely there are military records for conscripts?
    > There's no way to know.

    Actually, I'd be willing to give them this. A census
    assumes a pre-existing accurate census; given the
    prior
    government, whatever prior census there was, was more
    likely to suit the needs or whims of Saddam than to be
    accurate. The bodies could be buried beneath rubble,
    blown to unrecognizable pieces, or simply buried by
    their fellow villagers who won't talk about it (and
    thus, who won't give accurate counts of their dead) to
    anyone, coalition or Baath. And I didn't get the
    impression that those who recruited the conscripts
    were
    into record keeping so much as just wielding a large
    force; they might well not have noticed an occasional
    deserter or several, except when they were looking for
    such.



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Apr 13 2003 - 10:08:42 MDT