LD,

 

I am also against the war in Iraq, but come now LD, you are making an assumption and fallacy that "most of the people who have been killed in Iraq are non-combatant Iraqi people..." and "the overwhelming majority of those people have been killed by the US military and it's government. That is a simple fact."   

Could you please post or email me privately the evidence "or simple fact[s]" you have to verify your assumption.  Odd, during the war I've seen Iraqi people (Saddam Hussein supporters, etc.) firing at the American soldiers, and the soldiers firing back and killing them.  That is the process of war and what happens.  However, more recently, I've seen the same politically minded people[s] loading themselves with high explosives and blowing themselves up or running check points to blow up both American GI's and innocent Iraqi people.   Surely, the Iraqi people have been killing their own people. 

 

It may be true that a few American GIs "have refused to go along," however, I seriously doubt you can support there "probably (are) many who we will not hear about."  IMHO, that remains only speculation and opinion on your part.  Even though American GI's may not want to be over there, I've read and seen the reports.  Plus, as an ex-GI myself, I know for a fact that most troops are there to do their job, be it fighting to preserve freedom for America, to bring freedom to the Iraqi people, etc. 

 

Yes, my opinion of the war has changed (because of great postings by Nicholas, James and others) of why we entered Iraq looking for supposed WMD that just have not been found nor I doubt will ever be.  

 

IMHO, American troops are there simply to do their job.  However, the real answers of why we are there vary from political to economical reasons.  For the economical, my opinion rest to protect the oil fields of the rich oil companies and holdings of  corporations in the Middle East.  Historically, too, we see that both the USA, France, Russia and other countries have fed military weapons into the Middle East for years.  You might say, it was about to blow and it did.

 

Indeed, I think that the American people and their allies have been duped by Bush and others (CIA, etc.) into thinking that there were WMD to get US troops into Iraq.  With this in mind, the problem of deaths because of an invasion is not to be blamed by the soldiers (of any nation or war) but by the politicians and those who put the troops into the field of battle in the first place for their own personal or financial gain (and the gas prices at the pumps may have a touch to do with it).  

 

I am sorry, but I also disagree with your thought that the deaths of the Iraqi people have been totally the cause of US soldiers, especially with all the car bombs, suicide bombers, etc., blowing up themselves and their own people.   As the war continues, I see more and more of these types of deaths happening, and caused by these types of people --- not by American soldiers.   This is a different type of war because of terrorism, where the enemy is unknown.  It is almost an invisible war because of the situation.  Sadly, the innocent are going to be killed more and more, and not just by soldiers but by terrorists.

 

We are in a different kind of war, and I think museum exhibits, to be honest, need to deal with this factor.    I see a great change in exhibit presentation of this type because of this new type of "terrorist" war.  Yes, war is "hell" and 'war booty' that does make it to the exhibits, may be pictures of the innocent lives lost by a terrorist blowing up a crowded street in the Middle East.  However, to be fair curators and exhibit teams would also have to deal with the reasons why the war began.  The story would not be factual, if the exhibit did not explain the thousands of lives lost because of the injustice and rule of Saddam Hussein over the Iraqi people.   I think this opens up many thought-provoking exhibits in the future. 

 

In addition, I must comment on your view that "aerial bombardments of urban residential areas, water supplies, and power plants (all proscribed as 'war crimes' by the Geneva Convention, btw), the cluster bombs and maimed children."  However, this is what war is all about, and the innocent becomes the statistics.   War is about death, however, in most cases in Iraq the bombardments were very well orchestrated, which saved many lives.  It is well documented that residential areas, water supplies and power plants were not the target in Iraq, but places where Saddam Hussein and/or his supporters were possible located.     

 

 

I also agree with the postings that the military has handled the issue of "war booty" that deals with stolen heritage and artifacts of the ancient culture.  Such artifacts should not be allowed, and criminal charges possibly filed if a person or donor presents such items to museums (that's another issue! What does a museum do if they are presented with stolen artifacts?).   As with this subject of "Iraq donations", I think differences of opinions on Museum-list spark the creative mind, and in that sense, will provide museums new ideas to build exhibits that will tell of a war that was not wanted, but happened. 

    

 

   

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