Cannon Fodder

[ze_dscherman]

A small profile of who is being killed in Iraq

Another day, and another two or three American soldiers are killed in Iraq. The body count still hasn't hit critical mass yet, a number that will start to turn the public more actively against the White House as during the Vietnam War. Usually this number is around a thousand, for three zeros at the end somehow conveys a sense of largess. Coupled with this, another year or so and people in the US will get fed up; Americans like their wars short and sweet, not more than a few months or couple of years at the most, coupled with a clear and concise victory. In Iraq, it has been anything but that.

But more important than this, is the profile of those being killed. As the nature of wars change, so too do the types of soldiers being asked to kill and be killed. No doubt nationalism plays a part (or as Americans like to call their particular brand, "patriotism"), but this is less so than in the past. Most look to the armed forces as a "career", that is, a quick and easy way to make a living, usually because they can't find a job doing anything else.

As a result, many ethnic groups who don't fit the WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) profile find themselves on the front lines defending American capitalism from Islamic fundamentalism. Some make the choice of their own free will; others are cajoled my recruitment officers. And many of them aren't even American.


More: http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/co/16719/1.html