Beyond 2,000

As we reach the terrible 2,000 milestone of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, let's not also forget the 1 in 4 Iraq war veterans that are returning with problems that require medical or mental health treatment, and the 26,000 to 30,000 Iraqi civilians that have been killed directly by military intervention.

Tom Baxter, a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Gold Star Families for Peace in Talahassee, Florida also sends us this message:

Of all the articles about Iraq, I've seen few about the almost 10% or 100,000 of Iraqi children suffering from "acute malnutrition," with the associated "stunting" or "wasting syndrome," in layman's terms, starving to death. Nor much mention of the additional 20% or 300,000 Iraqi children with "chronic malnutrition." These rates have doubled since our victory in Operation Iraq Liberation and have not been seen in Iraq since the United Nation's "Food for Oil" program ended the embargo.

Nor have I seen any plans to divert an hour's worth of our war budget to fund the United Nation's World Food Program in Iraq, the only thing that is keeping millions of children and pregnant women from joining the 100,000s in acute malnutrition.

The failure of the Coalition Forces in Iraq to honor their obligations under the laws of war is clearly a war crime, a violation of paragraphs 384 and 385, US Army Field Manual, FM 27-10, Law of Land Warfare.

May God forgive us and our leaders,
Tom Baxter
USAV 1967-69