Is there something odd about one war [Iraq] in which the post-war claims more lives than the war itself, and another [Colombia] in which hostages are taken not for a quick exchange of ransom, but to be held for years simply to make a point? This op-ed from Guatemala’s leading newspaper, Siglo Vientiuno, ponders the question of how the new millennium has altered humanity’s most destructive preoccupation.
“Like the temperature, the seasons, the rain and other natural phenomena that in this new century no longer respond to the old cycles we once knew, the dynamics of war (humanity’s most destructive activity) also seem to have changed.”
Victor Galvez Borrel
Translated By Paula van de Werken
January 14, 2008
Guatemala – Siglo Vientiuno – Original Article (Spanish)
Guatemala: Like the temperature, the seasons, the rain and other natural phenomena that in this new century no longer respond to the old cycles we once knew, the dynamics of war (humanity’s most destructive activity) also seem to have changed. Take two hot spots for example.
The first is the war in Iraq. Effectively, while the invasion of that country officially on May 1, 2003 (after the much-publicized victory if international coalition forces led by the United States after 40 days of combat that devastated the Iraqi Army). A few days later a different war began – and it continues today.
In the last four and a half years (until the end of October 2007) that conflict has resulted in 4,145 dead soldiers (92 percent of them North Americans and a total of five Salvadorans), as well as 28,171 wounded. In other words, 24 times more dead than during the initial invasion.
In addition to recording more deaths after victory than during the initial invasion, this war is characterized by the complexity of the battle being waged on several fronts: against the troops of the international coalition, against the government and the rebuilt Iraqi army (trained and subordinated to the invading forces), and between the majority Shiite Muslims (55 percent of the population) and the minority Sunnis (18 percent of the population).
This latter front gives the conflict the feel of a civil war, which had up to now spared the Kurds (21 percent of the population) but which now threatens to draw them in due to the recent bombings of their territory [northern Iraq] by Turkey. This feature creates the third and key paradox of this war: The troops of the international coalition don’t what to do in order to stay, but neither have they found the formula to go. Attacks with “car bombs” and the taking of hostages are two principal weapons of the fight.
The second “hot spot” is the internal armed conflict in Columbia, the oldest in America, which was ignored and isolated since it became impossible to conceal in 1980.
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