On the Cheapness of Muslim Blood: 2 U.S. Soldiers Worth More than 9 Afghan Children

06 March 2011

By Juan Cole

Yesterday was a day stained in blood. Two U.S. soldiers were killed in Germany by a lone gunmen. Meanwhile, nine children were killed in Afghanistan by U.S. armed forces. Both incidents happened on the same day. But if you're an American watching your country's mainstream media, you've probably only heard about one of these attacks. Is there any question as to which one of these two incidents you've heard about? That you've watched endless coverage of the two U.S. soldiers killed in Germany–and that you've hardly or never heard about what happened yesterday in Afghanistan–is almost certain.

Once again, American blood is boiling over the killing of two of their military personnel by someone who is suspected to be an Islamic extremist. The anger is not just expressed on lunatic anti-Muslim websites like Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch or Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugs, but palpable in the general masses of U.S. citizenry. How could these Muslim savages kill two of our brave U.S. servicemen? Thoughts of retaliation–perhaps even using a Samson Option (nuking Mecca, Medina, and/or other Muslim-majority cities)–are certainly considered, if but fleetingly.

Meanwhile, hardly any Americans are aware that on this very same day the U.S. military slaughtered nine children in a country we occupy. Over the course of the next few days, we will get to know the intimate lives of the two fallen U.S. soldiers. They will become very personal to us, living and breathing people–nay, young boys–proudly serving their country. Do you think that your government-subservient propaganda machine you call mainstream media will ever spend any time personalizing the nine dead Afghan children, telling us about their childhoods and getting to know their bereaved mothers?

Why is it that nine Afghan children–killed by our country's military–will be a side story whereas two U.S. soldiers–part of that very same occupying force that killed those nine children–will be covered to no end? Can you imagine–just for a second–if one of those Muslim barbarians killed nine American children on U.S. soil? And I don't mean nine Muslim-American children…I mean, real Americans–you know, the good white Judeo-Christian ones. The media would lose its mind, stoking the fans of war. Americans might then expand their knowledge of geography as they get ready to bomb yet another country they've never heard of before.

It is difficult not to come to the same conclusion that has been reached in the Muslim world: Americans consider Muslim blood cheap. Had it been two Muslim soldiers from some Muslim country that had been killed in their beds, the title of the articles in U.S. news reports would have read "two Islamic militants (or insurgents) killed" and that would be the end of that. American soldiers are always "soldiers" and "servicemen"–never "militants" or "occupiers".

Yesterday, we saw how two military men became more precious than nine young children. The idea that U.S. (or Israeli) soldiers are worth more than the civilians in the countries they occupy is an old one: remember that myth that still persists that nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved "a million U.S. lives"? Even though that claim is completely spurious, even if we accept it for argument's sake, didn't anyone wonder if the lives of U.S. soldiers were really worth more than that of Japanese children?

The killing in Afghanistan will go unnoticed for a reason that is even more disturbing: we've been killing their civilians for a long, long time. So far, the U.S. military has killed hundreds of thousands of Muslim civilians. So another nine children dead is just a drop in the bucket–a bucket full of Muslim blood. Meanwhile, zero U.S. civilians have been killed by jihadists since 9/11 [this article was published in May of 2010, so if this statistic has changed, please let me know; but as far as I know, this is still accurate]. Surely then, two U.S. soldiers being killed is noteworthy. In other words, so much Muslim blood has been shed that nobody notices when more is spilled.

But of course the American jingoists will say "it's not the same" and they will explain to us why the killing of two U.S. soldiers "counts" and how the killing of nine Afghan children doesn't. Yet, if we wanted to compare the two incidents, then surely the latter is more indefensible. For one, the Afghan dead were children. Second, nine is–as far as I know–considered to be a higher number than two. Third, the U.S. soldiers were killed by a lone gunmen, or at worst by a stateless organization that terrorizes its own populations. Meanwhile, the nine children were killed by the U.S. military backed by the U.S. government in a war that was supported at its inception by its citizenry. Fourth, the U.S. is an occupier in a country. Although the U.S. citizenry may have become accustomed to being in the role of occupiers, history will have absolute disdain for foreign invaders. Fifth, the lone gunmen may have been deranged mentally and thought he was justified because those U.S. soldiers were en route to join an occupation force–whereas the U.S. is killing Muslim children due to a national hysteria.

Granted, the U.S. military has stated that the strike against Afghan children was "accidental," so in this particular way the killing of U.S. servicemen may have been worse. But one wonders how much indiscriminate killing of civilians has to go on before it "counts"?

To understand how little the occupier feels guilty for the deaths caused by its occupation, we can look at the absolutely atrocious comments made by the Commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General David Patraeus, who defended the slaughter of the nine Afghan children by blaming the deaths on their parents. In what can only be described as the most disgusting comment ever, Gen. Patraeus had the audacity to suggest "that Afghans caught up in a coalition attack in northeastern Afghanistan might have burned their own children to exaggerate claims of civilian casualties." Did you get that? He's claiming that Afghan parents slaughtered and immolated their own children in order to make the U.S. look bad. How can "an apology" for killing children be taken seriously when it is delivered to parents whom you are accusing of killing their own children? Absolutely preposterous!

Can you imagine if a Muslim Congressman–the one or two we have–dared say such a thing about Israeli children killed in a Hamas rocket attack, i.e. that the Israeli parents burned alive their own children in order to make Hamas look bad? What do you think would have happened? Do you remember how the mainstream media–Fox News especially–dealt with Imam Rauf's post 9/11 statement where he opined that the U.S. foreign policy might possibly have contributed as a cause to the attack (gasp!, you don't say!)? The MSM kept replaying clips of those now infamous words, invalidating all the good Rauf has ever done in his life.

Yet, Gen. Patraeus' words–which morbidly blamed the parents for the deaths of their own children–will hardly or just passingly be mentioned by U.S. news outlets. Patraeus will simply issue an insincere apology and the matter will soon be forgotten. He won't be fired, nor will he be shamed in the public eye. After enough Afghans have died and enough U.S. wealth spent (and it will be the latter which will cause a withdrawal, since Americans could care less about the former), Patraeus will come back home and be heaped with the great honors of a war hero.

To be absolutely clear: the murder of two U.S. soldiers in Germany is deplorable. Such an act is illegal under international law, immoral based on human ethics, and is even forbidden under Islamic law. Neither do I malign those soldiers who were killed–I understand that they were just doing their job, and my "anger" is only aimed at the government who risked their lives for no good reason. Whatever deity you believe in–whether it is Jesus, Allah, or Yahweh–or even if you don't believe in any–we can all pray or take a moment of silence for all those who fell yesterday, including the two U.S. soldiers and the nine Afghan children. Our compassion as human beings compels us to do that.

Those responsible for the crime of killing the two U.S. soldiers in Germany should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But will any law touch those responsible for the murder of nine Afghan children in the country we occupy? Will we at least look inside our own selves before we point all the fingers at the Muslim world? Will we ever contemplate that our religious right wing–and that in Israel–was a big factor in launching these ill-conceived wars? One thing is certain: we won't put Judaism or Christianity on trial as we put Islam on trial. The double standards in the media against Muslims and Islam are absolutely unacceptable. Free yourself from this brainwashing and try watching some real news–start by watching Al-Jazeera English–imperfect though it is, it is far better than the government-subservient establishment media in the U.S.

 

©  EsinIslam.Com

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