One year ago, many Americans enthusiastically supported the gulf war. It was something to rally around, we were told, something to be proud of. But how many of us ever became aware of the terrible cost of that war on the people of Iraq?
Contrary to the impression given by our government, and for the most part echoed in media coverage, it was not a ”clean” war with limited casualties. We were responsible for the deaths of somewhere between 125,000 and 250,000 people. (We were never given accurate numbers.) And tragically the casualties continue to mount.
Recently, a study team funded by UNICEF, the MacArthur Foundation and Oxfam concluded that nearly an additional one million Iraqi children are suffering from malnutrition and disease, an estimated 118,000 of them at risk of death.
In my view, the gulf war and its tragic aftermath is nothing to be proud of.
