The War You Don't See

[James R. Coplin]

For example, in WWI, the blockade of German ports by the British from 1914
onward lead to the deaths of approximately 763,000 German civilians from
*starvation*.  Other deaths from more overt war actions are not included in
this figure.

James R. Coplin

> -----Original Message-----
> From: music-bar-bounces at lists.music-bar.org [mailto:music-bar-
> bounces at lists.music-bar.org] On Behalf Of Peter Korsten
> Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 12:41 PM
> To: Music-bar
> Subject: Re: The War You Don't See
> 
> Op 29-12-2010 11:52, punkdISCO schreef:
> 
> > I can understand you don't want to watch the video, it is rather long.
> > However, very little of the video is based on opinions, rather, it
> presents
> > facts such as the 1+million dead, the 1/2million children our
> santions have
> > killed, the news dociers that were ignored by all major news
> companies with
> > the heads of the BBC and ITV being interviewed, giving comment on why
> they
> > were ignored.
> >
> > Like you, I am very sceptical of opinionated interent media, but I am
> always
> > interested in the raw facts and figures.
> 
> Opinion is very often the way you present facts, which facts you choose
> to present, and more importantly, which facts you leave out.
> 
> If I first see that this one guy who invented the phrase 'public
> relations' got women to smoke, and then that he designed propaganda for
> WW1, it *completely* bypasses the background of what was a very complex
> set of circumstances that led to the biggest armed conflict up till
> then.
> 
> What about the torpedoing of the Lusitania? That event was very the
> Pearl Harbor of WW1. (The USA waited another two years before entering
> into WW1, but the sinking greatly contributed to turning the USA away
> from isolationism.)
> 
> *Of course* you cannot, ever, believe government information in times
> of
> war (or even outside those times, but let's leave that aside for a
> moment).
> 
> So, a lot of civilians got killed during the invasions of Afghanistan
> and Iraq. But how many deaths did Saddam Hussein have on this
> conscience
> (presuming that he actually had one)? Anyone remember the Iran-Iraq war?
> How many more would there have been, had he been left in power? We'll
> never know.
> 
> If you just present the raw figure of civilian deaths, without putting
> it into context, it becomes meaningless, really. Unfortunately, though,
> it is very meaningful for those who have already decided that those
> invasions were wrong, and just want more confirmation/ammunition.
> 
> Mind, I'm not expressing an opinion about whether those invasions were
> justified or not - that's a question that you cannot answer with a
> simple 'yes' or 'no' anyway.
> 
> But do you understand my reservations when these facts are presented in
> such a way?
> 
> - Peter
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