Over 5,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan

Imperialists brace for thousands more

By James Circello

The author is a member of March Forward!, an organization of veterans and service members who stand against war and racism.

Under the pretense of ushering in a new age of “democracy” and “freedom” for Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S.  war makers have destroyed countless lives. Virtually every family in these targeted countries has been affected by falling bombs, night raids, indiscriminate violence, mass oppression and the unrelenting fear that comes with all of this. Millions have been killed, become widowed or orphaned, or fled their homes to escape the torture and murder of U.S. terrorist policy.

To carry out these plans, the Pentagon has now sacrificed the lives of over 5,000 U.S. military women and men. For those reaping profits from these racist wars, 5,000 lives of unknown soldiers may be “a small price to pay.” But when you lose your daughter, your son, your sister, your brother, your husband, wife, father, mother or dear friend, one death is one death too many.

Today, the names of more than 58,000 U.S. soldiers who died in Vietnam are enshrined in black marble in Washington, D.C. But forgotten are the names of over 303,000 U.S. soldiers that were wounded, as are the names of U.S. soldiers who suffered severe psychological trauma. Forgotten are the names of at least 3 or 4 million Vietnamese men and women who were killed, not to mention the names of 2 million Laotians and Cambodians buried in the blood-soaked soil from merciless bombings by U.S. aircraft and the over 1 million who died of starvation because of the war.

Likewise, the 5,000 U.S. soldiers now dead only hint at the grim human cost of the ongoing wars. A January 2009 report by the Veterans’ Affairs Administration claims that nearly 45 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who sought care with the VA through September  2008—totaling 178,483 veterans—have been diagnosed with “possible psychological disorders.”  Of those, 92,998 veterans were diagnosed with PTSD. There are 31,368 physically wounded U.S. troops, of which 20 percent have suffered brain or spinal injuries.

All this comes on top of the countless deaths, injuries, psychological scarring and torture inflicted on the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, figures that have now reached several million.

These numbers are merely statistics to the policy makers in Washington—the politicians and the Pentagon brass whose privilege largely shields them from this pain and suffering. But to the working class, these are more than numbers. Each name is a life lost for a lie. Each is a family member or a friend that we will never have back, a brother who will never again be able to stand up, confined to a wheelchair for life, a sister who will lie paralyzed. These tragedies continue to mount as other soldiers prepare their duffel bags ahead of their deployment.

Those in Washington have sent young men and women to die by the thousands many times before. Each time, bodies sent back to Dover Air Force Base would reach tens or even hundreds of thousands without causing U.S. officials to even contemplate ending their war effort. For them, no death toll was ever too high, but the numbers indeed mattered to U.S. soldiers and the people back home. The heroic resistance of the Vietnamese people, coupled with the resistance within the U.S. military bolstered by the growing anti-war sentiment at home, finally forced the Pentagon onto its knees.

The same dynamic holds true today. In the absence of a strong movement capable of fighting back, the political players in Washington and the Pentagon brass will continue their devastating occupations. Only the combined resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan, coupled with our resistance in the military ranks and in the streets here at home, can end these crimes. March Forward! calls on all who oppose these wars of aggression to stand up and make themselves known.

We never asked for these wars! And despite that, 91 percent of all soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan have been individuals from the enlisted ranks. March Forward! calls for all soldiers to immediately throw down their rifles and join the movement against these criminal wars.

The people of Iraq and Afghanistan are not our enemies!

This is not our war!
MarchForward.org