How much is an Iraqi's life worth?

[jameseb]

How about Afghanistan? Any ciivlian casualties there? Why aren't we protesting the fighting over there?
Iraq is a political focal point because Bush may or may not have been wrong for going over there. So now we suddenly have a war that is worse than others going on elsewhere.
How much are non-Iraqi casualties worth? Obviously not enough to even get a mention in a liberal rag from Boston.

Can we say sensationalism?

I don't know about the rest of you but I never expected we would go to war without some civilian casualties. I am surprised, however that we are prepared to make financial "restitution".

Seems a little bizarre to me. Maybe we should pay Germany for all the lives we took during WWII. And Viet Nam, Korea, etc...

Anyone read about the Airman killed yesterday? or the 5 soldiers killed today? Of course, they don't matter because it was us who invaded Iraq so we must deserve what we get right?

It's war. What we do in war is kill. It is extremely unfortunate that we can't evacuate an entire nation with hte exception of it's military before we go in.

I'm relatively sure that our government isn't trying to make the statement that a life is worth a dollar amount. And I'm just as sure that Bush doesn't make those decisions on his own as much as we would like to hold him personally responsible.

Ditto and rep coming your way..... scrambled or sunny-side up?

 

[burrow_owl]

Seems a little bizarre to me.

Once you remember our geopolitical interests and goals in the region, it really isn't so bizarre. If you recall, Iraq is supposedly the first step in the so-called 'reverse domino' theory. The idea has always been that if we set up an america-friendly democracy in the region, the peoples of other countries in the region will start to clamor for democracy in their respective states, and the tyrannical and/or anti-american governments in the region will start to fall like dominos. That's the geopolitical theory under which we're proceeding in Iraq.

Given that, a necessary part of the strategy is maintaining the good will of the Iraqi people - compensatory damages for accidental deaths of civilians is presumably one prong in our attempt not to alienate the Iraqis. The alienation of the Iraqi citizenry undermines our geopolitical aim. So awarding damages, once seen in the proper context, really isn't so odd.

It should be readily apparent, then, why we don't give money to soldiers killed in the line of duty (although I'd bet we do award money in the case of a soldier being killed negligently - heck, i'd bet we give extra money even if they were killed in the normal course of duty. Anyone know?).

 

[praying]

The best statement in regards to this I've ever heard was at a student debate. The first student concluded a very fine argument with the words: collateral damage is inavoidable. You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs.

It sounded really great. His oponent simply stated this.
"People are not eggs."
No matter how many lives Saddam took, it doesn't justify the needless taking of the lives of innocent civilians. The fact that someone does something that is horrible isn't justified by someone else doing things even worse.
And even when it is said that this war was 'needed' and the people now are liberated, there are many instances in which more precautions could be taken to spare lives. It seems however that the life of an American soldier is worth more then the life of an Iraqi civilian. And that is where the reasoning goes awry.

Exactly like not using cluster bombs, and mines.

 

[MatthewG215]

I have a question for everyone, pretend you were given this choice: You could either save the lives of five Americans, or eight Iraqis. Which group would you choose?


Me? The eight Iraqis.

 

[27D4]

I have a question for everyone, pretend you were given this choice: You could either save the lives of five Americans, or eight Iraqis. Which group would you choose?


Me? The eight Iraqis.

Would those eight Iraqis happen to be hanging American corpses?

 

[Ampmonster]

did the 5 americans die saving the 8 iraqis?

 

[Jacey]

Did the 8 Iraqis have their families slaughtered by Americans?

Hey, I'm just being Fair and Balanced here.

 

[jameseb]

Did the 8 Iraqis die of natural causes?

Just being REAL fair and balanced.

 

[Ampmonster]

"Did the 8 Iraqis have their families slaughtered by Americans?"

slaughter is a nice choice of words. it really implies that our guys are over there chopping heads off.

 

[Jacey]

"Did the 8 Iraqis have their families slaughtered by Americans?"

slaughter is a nice choice of words. it really implies that our guys are over there chopping heads off.

Yea, that is so Vietnam

 

[Ampmonster]

your picking and choosing of when to apply history is funny.
and so "fair" and "balanced"

 

[JohnCJ]

A good piece on The forgotten victims of the Iraq War



Wife, three kids worth $5,000

Thoughts anyone?

I'm fairly disgusted, and that's putting it nicely.

Cost in US dollars $109,330,881,113

http://costofwar.com/

population of Iraq (1997 estimate) is 22,219,289

http://www.arab.de/arabinfo/iraq.htm

$4920.54 spent per live person in Iraq in US dollars

537 US killed

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/12/1068329608373.html

55,000 est. Iraqi killed

Life is invaluable but for the purposes of this I valued each US death as equal to the value spent per person alive in Iraq in US dollars.

Total cost for the US if each US death was $4920.54= $109,333,523,442.52

$4920.66 spent per live person in Iraq if each US death is $4920.54

55,537 (est.) total deaths US and Iraqi

http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html

US population 292,923,951

If each in the US paid an equal share in US dollars

$373.25 per person in the US

So the US has spent $4920.54 for each person alive in Iraq to find non-existant WMD's and giveing freedom to Iraqis.

What is the cost of life?
What is the cost of freedom?

Life is more important than freedom, but you would have to ask people who lost their freedom and kept their lives weather or not they would rather live free or die.

These things can never be pretty.

Pray for the Iraqi's and our men and women over there.

 

[Ampmonster]

"Pray for the Iraqi's and our men and women over there."

im glad thats on the bottom cause it's the bottom line....

 

[Yitzchak]

The point here is that the average iraq does not enjoy the prosperity of the average american. The killing of the breadwinner of an iraq family is an extreme hardship and I am glad that someone is considering doing something to reduce that hardship by paying 5000. There is zero obligation to pay anything so I look at it as something good. I am quite sure that foreign governments are not paying the u.s. for their civilian casualties.