A friend of mine who is a veteran recently expressed some anger and discontent with the celebration of the life of late Hip-Hop artist Nate Dogg saying in a facebook post "the majority of us on this site didn't know that dude so why care? He didn't care about you or me. Why don't all of us mourn our brothers and sisters that are dying for our country every other day? That seems more worth our time." I don't disagree that the lives of the soldiers who die everyday in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East should be remembered. But there are some fundamental problems that I have with the statement itself. Let me break it down.
1. Soldiers are not the only ones who have died in the war. Thousands of innocent women and children have been killed. Should we not also remember them? Are their lives not just as valuable as the lives of our soldiers?
2. Are our brothers and sisters really dying for us? Or is that the lie they have been told to get them to go to war in the first place? The more research you do, the more you see that this war really has nothing to do with terrorism, its all about one thing. Profit. There are powerful people who get rich off of the suffering of others, and these war profiteers don't give a damn about any of the people who die so that they can have 2 Bentleys in the garage instead of just one, or take their families and friends on lavish vacations providing them not only with a free trip to some of the world's playgrounds for the super rich but also such amenities as childcare. I'm not making this up, these are things that have been clearly documented. Who owns the construction companies that are "rebuilding" Iraq and Afganistan after we destroy it? Members of our own government. Who Owns the Oil companies that would benefit so greatly from control of the oil rich lands in the Middle East? Americans. We shouldn't mourn the soldiers who die, we should prevent further unnecessary loss of life in their memory.
3. Why is it that we are so quick to mourn soldiers, but not ask was it even necessary for them to die in the first place? To the best of my knowledge, diplomacy has not been used at all to try and solve any of the problems we have had post 9/11 with the Middle East. But no one questions that. And more and more soldiers and civilians keep dying everyday. What is the point?
To quote a phrase, nobody wins a war. Period. And I would just like it known that I don't want or need ANYONE to die on my behalf, especially not for oil and money and politics. I remember all those who have made sacrifices, but I do not ask it of them.
So we can say, the death of Nate Dogg is nothing compared to the deaths of soldiers, but we can also say the deaths of 4,326 soldiers who made the choice to serve a government that put them at unnecessary risk pales in comparison to the deaths of an estimated 151,000 people in Iraq. Where does it end? No one deserves to die, and all lives are valuable. Until we understand this, we are looking at an incomplete picture.
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Some links I found particularly interesting:
Iraq War Casualties: US Military Deaths and Civilian Deaths
The 25 Most Vicious Iraq War Profiteers
The Rip Off In Iraq: You Will Not Believe How Low The War Profiteers Have Gone
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And finally, a song that truly makes a statement about war:
Nobody Wins A War - Raheem Devaughn Featuring Jill Scott, Bilal, Anthony Hamilton, Chrisette Michelle, Algebra, Shelby Johnson, Ledsi, Citizen Cope, Dwele, Chico Debarge, and Rudy Currence
Nobody Wins A War Song Lyrics
