Iraq is (re)born
The world welcomes the Independent Democratic People's Confederate Republic of the United States of Iraq.
One year on
Last Sunday was my birthday. The plan was to spend a fair
chunk of it at a picnic in leafy-green Yarralumla, getting some sun on my face
as I ate imported cheese, quaffed sparkling white and threw soft toys at my
baby daughter in the naïve hope that she might make some motion to catch them.
It didn’t quite go to plan (a public yoga presentation and a howling gale put paid to that) but it was still a whole lot better than last year’s birthday. That was spent in the cardio-thoracic ward of The Canberra Hospital, awaiting the results of the biopsy on the huge mass that had been found in my chest.
There was a small part of me that feared that last year’s birthday (documented here) might in fact be my last one. Or at least my last one in the carefree happy-go-lucky life to which I had become accustomed.
But a year on, I remain largely free of care (perhaps sometimes too free of it for my own good), still chugging along much as I was before my cancer struck. The biggest change by far in th…
It didn’t quite go to plan (a public yoga presentation and a howling gale put paid to that) but it was still a whole lot better than last year’s birthday. That was spent in the cardio-thoracic ward of The Canberra Hospital, awaiting the results of the biopsy on the huge mass that had been found in my chest.
There was a small part of me that feared that last year’s birthday (documented here) might in fact be my last one. Or at least my last one in the carefree happy-go-lucky life to which I had become accustomed.
But a year on, I remain largely free of care (perhaps sometimes too free of it for my own good), still chugging along much as I was before my cancer struck. The biggest change by far in th…
Comments
However, the US army must reconsider its training regimen, particularly regarding 'friendly fire.' Whilst in Iraq, only 493 of the 842 Americans killed were from 'hostile fire,' meaning that over 40 percent of US casualties are self inflicted. (figures correct as of Friday 25/6/2004. This figure is worsened when you consider the death toll of the Iraqi citizens, for whose freedom the US soldiers are killing each other. US soldiers have killed between 9451 and 11333 civilian Iraqis meaning that their 'friendly fire' deaths constitute around 95 percent of US kills. That means that for every enemy killed, US soldiers kill 21 of their friends.
Let's hope that Iraqis have the decency to thank them for their efforts.