Another three foot tall insurgent

I know bad things happen in Iraq every day, but sometimes there is a story in the newspaper, sometimes even a short blurb, that reminds me of the anger, guilt, shame and impotence I feel about what our government is doing to the people of that country. Today, there was a short article on SF Gate with the title "US Bombs Villages". According to the article, airstrikes killed 70 "insurgents". Doctors and villagers on the ground said that 20-40 of those killed were civilians, including children. In a statement that the military uses with every bomb they drop on a group of people 1 mile below them, they responded that they "had no reports of civilians killed". Given that the pentagon has said on numerous occasions that they do not keep records of civilian deaths, this is a rather tongue-in-cheek statement to make.

The pictures, though few, tell a story absent from the one paragraph report about this incident. There is a picture of a three foot body, wrapped in a sheet, being lowered into a coffin. The body is narrow, like that of a child, not a torso. Another five year old insurgent threatening the safe occupation of Iraq.

In another photo, two boys sit next to a coffin. The younger one, probably 10 or 12 years old, cries like a child worn by war but one who still has tears left. The other one and likely his borther, probably no older than 15, does not cry. His look is sad but impenetrable. A child without innocence who is unable to cry anymore. Coming of age in a war zone; he was probably an innocent boy like his brother when the bombs started to drop two years ago. Now there is no pride, safety or stability in his life. Soldiers can kick down his door, shoot his dog, and search his house whenever they want. Bombs drop from the air threatening his family until they finally manage to kill someone he loves. These are wounds that no one forgets. And this is how we plant the seeds of hatred in the hearts of young children growing up in Iraq.