I’m a student at a pretty liberal university. There have been a lot of bright yellow flyers floating around campus lately; in their latest instantiation "899" is starkly emblazoned in large black numerals on the yellow paper. The 899 stands for the number of Iraqi casualties that have resulted from errant bombs and missles used by coalition forces during Gulf War II. Students who oppose the war seize on such numbers and use them to argue that our war of liberation is just a callous attempt at an oil grab, civilian lives be damned. The anti-war right has seized on such numbers, as well as on the story of an Iraqi boy who was hurt by an errant missile; this piece by Joe Sobran is just one of the latest along these lines. Call it the straw that broke the camel’s back.

First off, the death or injury of any innocent person is wholly regrettable. Words cannot even begin to describe how horrible such events are. Yet such injustices were being perpetrated every day when Saddam Hussein controlled Iraq. Read this article on the torture chambers that coalition forces have been finding. Think about the warehouse full of human remains that coalition forces recently found (when I find the article I’ll link to it). When Saddam Hussein kills or hurts innocent Iraqis, he does so to shore up his power base and instill more fear into the hearts of the people. Most importantly, and most disturbingly, he kills so he can live to kill another day.

The deaths that coalition forces are responsible for, on the other hand, are very unfortunate accidents. Yes, we are in Iraq to eliminate a national security threat, but in doing so we are freeing an entire nation of subjugated people (those who think that our humanitarian intentions are just a ploy should realize that politics is a messy business; as a practical and factual matter states just cannot go around dealing with every humanitarian disaster that should arise, rather they need to be motivated by some pressing national interest, and if said interest corresponds to the righting of some broader injustice that's wonderful). The important difference between America and Saddam Hussein’s regime (and I really hate it when people try to talk about some sort of moral equivalency between President Bush and Dictator Hussein) is that when we kill innocent Iraqi civilians we don’t mean to. In fact, we do our best to avoid civilian deaths; the more people alive to enjoy the fruits of a free Iraq the better.

Honestly, compare Gulf War II to other wars fought with a similar goal in mind—the toppling of a regime. The amount of innocent blood that has been split has been miniscule compared to past wars. Coalition forces are not carpet bombing any cities, nor are they being cruel to civilians on the ground. For that we have technology and the current administration to thank (one of the most heartening developments about this war is the refusal of any official to refer to the civilian dead as “collateral damage,” a phrase I heard way too often in years and administrations past).

Pray for our troops (particularly those who have fallen), pray for the Iraqi people (particularly those who have been killed or injured), and pray for a just order to finally take hold in Iraq.