US 'war on terror' has killed over half a million people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq

[Azad67]

US 'war on terror' has killed over half a million people: study

 

[aggienation]

Going to attribute Pakistan deaths too? Okay, sure. Why not? Its not like they've dealt with their own issues with Islamist extremists before 2001. Nope, all that conflict, like Iraq and Afghanistan, only started after America invaded. Afghanistan wasn't a war zone between Northern Alliance and Taliban. Iraq was completely peaceful and prosperous nation, everyone loving everyone.

 

[Linschoten]

'Cause' is a weasel word in this context, most of those deaths were caused by civil war within the countries involved, Iraqis killing Iraqis tc. etc. Of course the Americans should not have got involved in countries that they did not understand, most of this was not Americans killing other people.

 

[Earl_of_Rochester]

I'm tempted to think that the Middle East is naturally screwed due to it being full of religious bigots and assorted nutters who all hate each other, they've been killing each other since Roman times and probably before that. Even without Sykes-Piqot and American intervention they'd probably still be killing each other over who has the best invisible friend.

 

[aggienation]

'Cause' is a weasel word in this context, most of those deaths were caused by civil war within the countries involved, Iraqis killing Iraqis tc. etc. Of course the Americans should not have got involved in countries that they did not understand, most of this was not Americans killing other people.

Are you suggesting America isn't directly responsible for killing 23,372 Pakistanis since 9/11? What sort of outrageous, imperialistic, reactionary lies are these?

 

[aggienation]

I'm tempted to think that the Middle East is naturally screwed due to it being full of religious bigots and assorted nutters who all hate each other, they've been killing each other since Roman times and probably before that. Even without Sykes-Piqot and American intervention they'd probably still be killing each other over who has the best invisible friend.

Before the US got involved Saddam killed hundreds of thousands of Shi'a and Kurdish Iraqis. Afghanistan was locked in a major and brutal civil war that had been ongoing since the 90s, they'd never actually stopped fighting since the late 1970s. Pakistan was no utopia either, they had a major problem in the northwest portion of their country that their govt was refusing to deal with (most of their troops were involved holding their eastern border against India), it wasn't until the US essentially forced their hand and assisted them that the Pakistani govt started going after its own homegrown problem with the Taliban and other Islamist groups that were operational in Pakistani borders since the Soviet-Afghan War (the Pakistani-Afghan border was porous, only really existing on paper).

 

[Azad67]

America provoked and funded "war on terror" in Pakistan. America forced Pakistani army (its ally) to take actions against Arab "Mujahideen" (of Soviet War period which were once supported by America) who had settled in in tribal areas. Situation escalated and Pakistani Taliban emerged. Moreover America is directly responsible for thousands of deaths in Pakistan through their drone strikes.

Now America is using banned white phosphorus in Syria. U.S.-Led Forces Said to Have Used White Phosphorus in Syria. I wonder America is responsible for how much death and destruction in Syria?

 

[Arminius]

they've been killing each other since Roman times.

This applies to just about every inhabited place on earth as far as I know.

A Muslim in 1999 (or indeed 1699) could look back on the previous century and suggest it was evidence that all europeans knew was killing each other. Slaughter on a biblical scale perpetually reappearing for centuries on end. The last 70 years or so in Europe are an anomaly in the record.

Is there a region on earth whose history isn't replete with warfare? It's hardly unique to Muslims or any other denomination.

 

[M.S. Islam]

Outrageous! Those poor Americans only wanted help setup democracy, and now this! How ungrateful!

 

[JaddHaidar]

I wonder America is responsible for how much death and destruction in Syria?

The US had a covert action program that was estimated to have cost $1 billion dollars since 2013 and well into 2017 to arm, train and supply Syria's "moderate rebels" (we all know what that means) to topple the Syrian government. Many of those CIA supplied weapons ended up in the hands of al-Nusra which is Syria's al-Qaeda, and many other groups affiliated ideologically with al-Qaeda.