Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Holocaust deniers by the dozens
Lots of criticism of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his comments on the Holocaust. The mass murder and death that has been going on in Iraq since the U.S. invaded (not to mention the millions fleeing the country)? That, you won't hear so much about. Sure, on a day by day basis, you'll hear about a car bomb killing 15 Iraqis, or whatever. But the totals? Not so much. George Bush? As far as I know December, 2005 was the only time he even deigned to offer an estimate (an absurd and unsourced "30,000") of the number of Iraqi civilian dead, and that in response to a direct question (which he didn't answer, since the questioner asked about all Iraqis, not just "civilians"). The refugees? Nothing I can find there either.
The New York Times did run an article in October, 2006 when the Lancet article appeared with its estimate of 600,000, but that was it - a one-day story. The rest of the U.S. media was pretty much the same.
In George Bush's defense, even if I call what is happening in Iraq a "holocaust," I couldn't really call him a "holocaust denier." Why? Because no one in the corporate media ever even bothers to ask him about it. No question, no denial. Although I would say he, like most war supporters, are in denial about the havoc they have caused.
Update: When I started this post, I had intended to include one other "holocaust" in it, but forget. But just now I'm listening to the "Holocaust denier" himself, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressing the U.N., and he reminded me (because he's talking about it) of what I left out. As he said, quoting U.N. statistics, every day 50,000 people die worldwide because of poverty - 18 million a year. A real holocaust. A preventable holocaust. A holocaust happening every year. And a holocaust which the likes of George Bush and the corporate media and all those casting stones at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad don't give a moment's thought to. Although once again, they don't really have to "deny" it, since the subject never comes up. George Bush, for example, in his address to the U.N. today, mentioned the word "poverty" three times. The only mention of people dying, however, came in a reference to "genocide" in Darfur.
