|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
|
 Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:08 am Post subject: Civilians the forgotten victims of Iraq stress disorder |
 |
|
Great article on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060611/ts_alt_afp/usiraqhealthstress
Some interesting stats in there as well..
130,000 US soldiers in Iraq
30-35,000 US CIVILIANS - working for Halliburton, etc.
15-17% of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder happens to US soldiers.. and also in the article.. there is a mention its much higher for civilians as they haven't had any training/experience in this kind of 'war' type of reality. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:10 am Post subject: |
|
|
One more addition to the calls to understand , to limit, to prevent civilian deaths in Iraq. Although I disagree with the hidden premise (that the U.S. should be doing something, when in my opinion the best thing they can do about civilian deaths in Iraq is "get out"), the author confirms many contentions and presses America to be more forthcoming, more humane and thoughtful in their "war" approach..
Yeah, it is sick how always the poor and everyday man gets the shaft. Soldier or Iraqi...
DD
| Quote: |
Learning from Haditha
Sarah Sewall The New York Times
Published: June 13, 2006
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts Dealing with the reported massacre of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, last autumn may actually turn out to be an easy case for the U.S. military. After all, American troops don't need refresher training to know that killing children at point-blank range is wrong.
The hard cases are the ones that happen nearly every day: These are the grindingly routine judgment calls, the snap decisions soldiers have to make when their foes (like suicide bombers) refuse to wear uniforms.
In the spiraling violence of Iraq, American troops are constantly learning on the job. Their actions must be closely monitored, especially the bellwether of civilian harm. Yet the military consistently denied the value of tracking civilian casualties. It therefore had no early warning system.
What's more, the military's institutional procedures helped keep the reality of abuses at a distance. The mechanism to make war more humane - the law of war - paradoxically limited understanding of war's impact.
Such a legalistic lens can create a blind spot. Investigations are not routine; they occur when the system suspects a problem. With civilian casualties invisible, it's harder to find a problem to suspect.
This spring, though, the military began investigating civilian deaths not simply to assess culpability but to enhance effectiveness. This groundbreaking approach builds on efforts, begun last year, to track incidents involving civilian harm at checkpoints and during convoys. Commanders were told to investigate the most serious of these incidents.
Why? To minimize civilian harm. The effort appears to have succeeded. Since January, Iraqi civilian deaths in these situations have been reduced from four to one per week. American forces have finally begun using meaningful metrics to improve their tactics and guard their professionalism.
If Haditha spurs outrage, it should be directed in the right place. Determining culpability is the best we can do after the fact. But prevention is a far better goal.
The military didn't start analyzing checkpoint shootings until well into the war. Had it acted sooner, arithmetic suggests we could have spared hundreds of Iraqi lives.
This is why the coalition should broaden its inquiry of civilian deaths to include house raids and aerial bombings. And this is why the military should focus on expanding an array of counterintuitive techniques that are now being woven into field doctrine: Less force may be more effective, assuming greater risk can make you safer, and your best weapons may be money, services and relationships.
To learn from Haditha is to learn to notice not just the alleged massacres but the steady stream of civilian deaths that for too much of this war have remained invisible.
Sarah Sewall, director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, was deputy assistant secretary of defense from 1993 to 1996.
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts Dealing with the reported massacre of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, last autumn may actually turn out to be an easy case for the U.S. military. After all, American troops don't need refresher training to know that killing children at point-blank range is wrong.
The hard cases are the ones that happen nearly every day: These are the grindingly routine judgment calls, the snap decisions soldiers have to make when their foes (like suicide bombers) refuse to wear uniforms.
In the spiraling violence of Iraq, American troops are constantly learning on the job. Their actions must be closely monitored, especially the bellwether of civilian harm. Yet the military consistently denied the value of tracking civilian casualties. It therefore had no early warning system.
What's more, the military's institutional procedures helped keep the reality of abuses at a distance. The mechanism to make war more humane - the law of war - paradoxically limited understanding of war's impact.
Such a legalistic lens can create a blind spot. Investigations are not routine; they occur when the system suspects a problem. With civilian casualties invisible, it's harder to find a problem to suspect.
This spring, though, the military began investigating civilian deaths not simply to assess culpability but to enhance effectiveness. This groundbreaking approach builds on efforts, begun last year, to track incidents involving civilian harm at checkpoints and during convoys. Commanders were told to investigate the most serious of these incidents.
Why? To minimize civilian harm. The effort appears to have succeeded. Since January, Iraqi civilian deaths in these situations have been reduced from four to one per week. American forces have finally begun using meaningful metrics to improve their tactics and guard their professionalism.
If Haditha spurs outrage, it should be directed in the right place. Determining culpability is the best we can do after the fact. But prevention is a far better goal.
The military didn't start analyzing checkpoint shootings until well into the war. Had it acted sooner, arithmetic suggests we could have spared hundreds of Iraqi lives.
This is why the coalition should broaden its inquiry of civilian deaths to include house raids and aerial bombings. And this is why the military should focus on expanding an array of counterintuitive techniques that are now being woven into field doctrine: Less force may be more effective, assuming greater risk can make you safer, and your best weapons may be money, services and relationships.
To learn from Haditha is to learn to notice not just the alleged massacres but the steady stream of civilian deaths that for too much of this war have remained invisible.
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tiger fancini
Joined: 21 Mar 2006
Location: Testicles for Eyes
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| ddeubel wrote: |
Yeah, it is sick how always the poor and everyday man gets the shaft. Soldier or Iraqi...
|
This is the case in all wars. Its been demonstrated time and time again, however war still happens, and people still die. American soldiers who are not legally allowed to consume alcohol in their own country, are considered to be an appropriate age to go off and die in a land many miles from home - all for the good of 'spreading democracy' and 'fighting terror.' I bet the Iraqi people live their lives in a state of permanent terror at the moment, although I guess that was the case before the invasion too.... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bignate
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Location: Hell's Ditch
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:51 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| tiger fancini wrote: |
| I bet the Iraqi people live their lives in a state of permanent terror at the moment, although I guess that was the case before the invasion too.... |
I think the key to this is that prior to the war, at least they were aware of where the terror was from, where it could hurt them...now it seems to come from everywhere I would suppose.....it is an awful situation... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
