The actual amount of Afghanis and Iraqis killed by coalition troops and mercenaries is pretty low. The vast, vast majority of casualties of the “War on Terror” came from disruption of services and the “Civil War” stage of the Iraq invasion which saw a hundred factions fighting each other as the US+allies mostly sat around in the Green Zone. Largely because death wasn’t the point, control and power was, and as long as the oil flowed the US’s goals were achieved.
I’m not saying that death toll isn’t ultimately the US’s fault, but I am saying your point simply isn’t true, the horrors of the past operated on a scale modern humans very rarely understand at any real level, and mass death simply isn’t the goal that often.
Like, the Japanese invasion of China in WW2 killed twenty million people alone, and most Americans are barely aware it was a front of the war.
Even if you believe the absolute worst of the claims of the modern Uyghur genocide, also not ethnic cleansing, it’s an attempt to eradicate the culture and faith that makes them troublesome to control for the CCP. Death, yet again, is not the point, control is.
Honestly this attack from Hamas is notable precisely because killing civilians seems largely to be the point, whatever justification they feel they have.
Those million deaths are mostly the casualties from the civil war stage of the Iraq occupation, and were not the direct result of coalition violence.
Most, as mentioned, were casualties from sectarian violence and loss of service. Insurgent on insurgent action. Not even really Iraqis vs Iraqis tbh, given the large number of foreign volunteer fighters.
America’s fault for both destabilizing the region and not enforcing order in the mess they created, but not the result of coalition troops gunning people down in the streets.
Sure, if you don’t count all the mercenaries they hired as coalition troops. Mercenaries you can watch, on YouTube, firing .50 cals into traffic as “warning shots.”
And you ignore that “military age male” doesn’t mention being visibly armed, particularly suspicious, and is defined as simply being over a male over 16.
But even if that number was a hundred times higher in reality it would still be about 10% of the total estimated casualties.
The point, as mentioned, was not to kill people, as the original comment implied.
In case you’ve forgotten the context of this internet argument, the original commenter implied the world was seeing unprecedented wars launched solely to kill as many people as possible.
So if they could point to a war in the last two decades that killed, idk, five million people solely to kill five million people, like the Second Congo War, that’d be a start, but it still wouldn’t be at all comparable to the ethnic cleansings of the past.
Those million deaths are mostly the casualties from the civil war stage of the Iraq occupation, and were not the direct result of coalition violence.
Most, as mentioned, were casualties from sectarian violence and loss of service. Insurgent on insurgent action. Not even really Iraqis vs Iraqis tbh, given the large number of foreign volunteer fighters.
America’s fault for both destabilizing the region and not enforcing order in the mess they created, but not the result of coalition troops gunning people down in the streets.
The actual amount of Afghanis and Iraqis killed by coalition troops and mercenaries is pretty low. The vast, vast majority of casualties of the “War on Terror” came from disruption of services and the “Civil War” stage of the Iraq invasion which saw a hundred factions fighting each other as the US+allies mostly sat around in the Green Zone. Largely because death wasn’t the point, control and power was, and as long as the oil flowed the US’s goals were achieved.
I’m not saying that death toll isn’t ultimately the US’s fault, but I am saying your point simply isn’t true, the horrors of the past operated on a scale modern humans very rarely understand at any real level, and mass death simply isn’t the goal that often.
Like, the Japanese invasion of China in WW2 killed twenty million people alone, and most Americans are barely aware it was a front of the war.
Even if you believe the absolute worst of the claims of the modern Uyghur genocide, also not ethnic cleansing, it’s an attempt to eradicate the culture and faith that makes them troublesome to control for the CCP. Death, yet again, is not the point, control is.
Honestly this attack from Hamas is notable precisely because killing civilians seems largely to be the point, whatever justification they feel they have.
https://www.iraqbodycount.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualties_in_the_war_in_Afghanistan_(2001–2021)
Those million deaths are mostly the casualties from the civil war stage of the Iraq occupation, and were not the direct result of coalition violence.
Most, as mentioned, were casualties from sectarian violence and loss of service. Insurgent on insurgent action. Not even really Iraqis vs Iraqis tbh, given the large number of foreign volunteer fighters.
America’s fault for both destabilizing the region and not enforcing order in the mess they created, but not the result of coalition troops gunning people down in the streets.
The coalition claimed to have only killed 1300 civilians. Do you really believe that?
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2019/05/us-coalition-admission-of-1300-civilian-deaths-in-iraq-and-syria/
Sure, if you don’t count all the mercenaries they hired as coalition troops. Mercenaries you can watch, on YouTube, firing .50 cals into traffic as “warning shots.”
And you ignore that “military age male” doesn’t mention being visibly armed, particularly suspicious, and is defined as simply being over a male over 16.
But even if that number was a hundred times higher in reality it would still be about 10% of the total estimated casualties.
The point, as mentioned, was not to kill people, as the original comment implied.
It was to conquer and control an oil rich nation.
Ok? So 10% of total casualties is “pretty low?” 100,000 people is “pretty low” to you?
Compared to the atrocities of the fairly recent past? The Rape of Nanking, the Holocaust, the Eastern Front, even Manifest Destiny?
Absolutely. Even assuming the worst, because unlike then mass extermination wasn’t the point, which is what they claimed it was.
I didn’t realize it was a contest. What is the minimum number of people to not count as “pretty low?”
In case you’ve forgotten the context of this internet argument, the original commenter implied the world was seeing unprecedented wars launched solely to kill as many people as possible.
So if they could point to a war in the last two decades that killed, idk, five million people solely to kill five million people, like the Second Congo War, that’d be a start, but it still wouldn’t be at all comparable to the ethnic cleansings of the past.
"The actual amount of Afghanis and Iraqis killed by coalition troops and mercenaries is pretty low. "
Over a million people is not pretty low. Go smoke some more crack.
Those million deaths are mostly the casualties from the civil war stage of the Iraq occupation, and were not the direct result of coalition violence.
Most, as mentioned, were casualties from sectarian violence and loss of service. Insurgent on insurgent action. Not even really Iraqis vs Iraqis tbh, given the large number of foreign volunteer fighters.
America’s fault for both destabilizing the region and not enforcing order in the mess they created, but not the result of coalition troops gunning people down in the streets.