On the Cheapness of Muslim Blood: 2 U.S. Soldiers Worth More than 9 Afghan Children
06 March 2011By 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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