The War against children

Reader’s letter

A gesture of sympathy. Flowers outside the Iranian Embassy in Berlin: “In deep mourning for the innocent victims of Minab.” (picture me)

On 28 February, the first day of the current war against Iran, American bombs destroyed not only the Iranian government in Tehran. They also bombed a girls’ school in Hormozgan Province, although it was called a “high-precision strike”. In the meantime, 165 children have been laid to rest in a mass burial.
  We have already become accustomed to the fact that the Israeli army has, in some cases, deliberately targeted children in the Gaza Strip. According to UNICEF, about 18,000 children have been killed there so far. The killing continues.
  In 1996, Madeleine Albright was asked in an interview with the CBS programme “60 Minutes” whether the deaths of more than 500,000 Iraqi children as a result of the sanctions imposed by the US had been worth it. Her answer was clear: “I think that is a very difficult decision, but the price is worth it.”
  Killing children in war appears to be a viable strategy for the “values-driven” West. It is a reliable means of stoking hatred. The idea behind this may be that it will provoke opponents into emotionally rash counter-reactions that may become counterproductive for themselves. Or – for those who think in longer perspectives – the calculation is that this will prevent these children to become soldiers later on, after 15 years of time.
  So this is the world we live in. How can we improve it?

Peter Schweizer, Neuhausen,
canton Schaffhausen