Wearing Green for Iran? What About the People of Iraq and Afghanistan?

Posted by Allison Kilkenny, True/Slant at 9:10 AM on June 22, 2009.

The recent outpouring of support from Americans for Iranian citizens ranges from the sincere to the premeditated. For every post of Twitterific solidarity from a well-intentioned American, there is a wily Jonah Goldberg spouting empty platitudes about needing to preserve freedom by _____ (we can only assume invading Iran.) Everyone seems outraged that an authoritarian power would dare to steal an election, though Americans seemed widely unconcerned when this happened in Azerbaijan in 2003 and Egypt in 2006.

There was also little outrage from Americans when police beat citizens in Agri/Kurdistan as they tried to protest election results.

In fact, if one searches the database over at Human Rights Watch for “election fraud,” page after page of reportedly stolen elections comes up. But the citizens of Kenya, Nigeria, Thailand, Colombia, Uganda, Rwanda, and Armenia aren’t the citizens exploitive politicians and Americans choose to care about.

Not only are citizens’ rights to free and fair elections being violated in many countries most Americans couldn’t even locate on a map, but the U.S. is also currently killing innocent civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan right this very moment, and Americans aren’t Twittering to stop that injustice.

In Afghanistan, over 3,000 civilians have died from U.S. and NATO airstrikes alone (and Human Rights Watch emphasizes this is an extremely conservative figure.) HRW states, “civilian deaths from U.S. and NATO airstrikes nearly tripled from 2006 to 2007.” The total figure of Afghans killed during the invasion is unknown, but figures range from 7,500 to 20,000 dead (when factoring indirect consequences such as civilians later dying from severe wounds.)  

In Iraq, the figures have reached a genocidal level with around 655,000 civilians having been killed (conservative figures state 81,174 - 88,585 civilians have died in Iraq, though these figures seem extremely low.) 

Today’s New York Times briefly returned to the issue of the Civilians We Don’t Care About. U.S. military officials ensure us that they are working super, super (pinky swear!) hard not to kill Afghan civilians. Commander Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said airstrikes will only be used to prevent Americans and coalition troops from being overrun, which he’s totally psyched about because all of those pesky civilian deaths have been undermining the American-led liberty parade mission. 

Of course, the NYT also reports that the United Nations found "the number of Afghan civilians killed in 2008 was 40 percent higher than in 2007," so McChrystal has a long way to go before anyone ever accuses him of being compassionate toward civilians.

While the reports of Afghan and Iraq civilian deaths have been sparse, the news of Pakistani deaths has almost been nonexistent, but the numbers of dead there are also startling with U.S. drones having killed at least 687 civilians.

The civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan don't seem to count anymore. While it's nice American citizens are expressing concern for a possibly stolen election in Iran, it would be equally heartening to see this degree of media attention turned toward the countries where the U.S. military kills innocent men, women, and children every day with taxpayer dollars.

Tagged as: iran, iraq, afghanistan, pakistan, twitter, civilian deaths, stanley mcchrystal, iran election, u.s. drones

Allison Kilkenny co-hosts Citizen Radio, the alternative political radio show. G. Gordon Liddy once told her her writing makes him want to vomit, which is the greatest compliment she's ever been paid, ever.