Wednesday, November 27, 2002

Effects of bombing Iraq
Like people everywhere, most people in the US think it’s wrong to kill civilians as a means of pressuring their government. But for many, the link between this conviction and opposition to the US plan to attack Iraq is severed by fear, misinformation and a desensitization to what war will really mean for ordinary people in Iraq. This guide is intended to help combat the euphemisms ("collateral damage") and passive language ("bombs fell") that obscure the suffering that the Bush Administration’s plans will cause. What does war mean for women and families in Iraq?

The Bush Administration wants to bomb Baghdad, a city of five million people. This would cause a humanitarian catastrophe equivalent to a heavy air bombardment of Los Angeles.

A November report by the global health organization Medact estimates that at least 50,000 civilians are likely to be killed by a US attack (www.medact.org/tbx/pages/section.cfm?index_id=2) .

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