>>ALTHOUGH IT RARELY ENDS UP ON AMERICAN NEWS THESE DAYS, IF YOU
ARE A CIVILIAN IN IRAQ, IT REMAINS AN INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS
PLACE TO BE --
>>-- CIVILIANS --
>>ROUGHLY THE PERIOD OF TIME IN WHICH IN THAT REGION ISIS
HAS BEEN SORT OF THE DRIVING FORCE OF VIOLENCE,
PARTICULARLY AGAINST CIVILIANS.
>> BEING AWAY, I FORGOT HOW MUCH FUN THE YOUNG TURKS ARE.
YOU
SPEND A LITTLE TIME AWAY AND YOU COME BACK AND 19 ARE DEAD, AND
THEN 19,000 ARE DEAD.
JUST LIKE THAT.
>> JUST CIVILIANS, AND ALMOST CERTAINLY AN UNDERCOUNT.
AND
SOME OF THE NUMBERS ASIDE FROM THE ACTUAL DEATHS ARE ALMOST
WORSE.
THIS WILL BE FUN EVENTUALLY, DON'T WORRY.
>>MAKE IT WORSE, JOHNNY.
>>I'M SIMPLY REPORTING ON THE TERRIBLE SITUATION WE FIND
OURSELVES IN AS A SPECIES.
AGAIN, THE UNITED NATIONS REPORT
DOESN'T SOLELY PUT THE ONUS ON ISIS OF THE DRIVER OF THE
VIOLENCE, THERE ARE OTHER GROUPS, BUT IN REGARDS TO ISIS
IT REFERS TO THAT GROUP --
>>"MAY," REALLY?
>>I THINK THEY HAVE PROBABLY REACHED IT AT THIS POINT, THE
UNITED NATIONS A NOTORIOUSLY CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZATION WHEN
IT COMES TO LABELING THINGS AS THEY ARE.
>>GENOCIDE IS A BIG THING -- WHATEVER THEY SAY LEADING UP TO
IT, THE HEADLINE IS THAT THEY USED THE WORD GENOCIDE.
THEN IT
CHANGES THE WHOLE METRIC OF HOW THEY APPROACH IT AND HOW THE
WORLD APPROACHES IT AND HOW LEGAL APPROACHES IT, BUT
NONETHELESS --
>>I'M BEING TOO HARD ON THEM.
>>TODAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT ISIS -- I READ ABOUT IT TODAY --
THEY ARE CUTTING THEIR PAY?
>>WE TALKED ABOUT THAT YESTERDAY.
IN HALF.
>>WE LOSE OUR NET WORTH, THEY JUST LOSE HALF THEIR PAY.
BECAUSE OF THE PRICE OF OIL.
>>A TOUGH TIME FOR THEM.
>>THAT IS A DEFINING LINE, WHEN THEY START USING THE WORD
GENOCIDE, BECAUSE IT DOES CHANGE -- YOU CAN SAY IT'S ONLY WORDS,
BUT I DO THINK THAT I HAVEN'T HEARD THAT YET.
I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF IT'S ACCURATE.
>>I DON'T KNOW THAT IT IS NECESSARILY, WE HAVE NO
INFORMATION, BUT IF YOU LISTEN TO VARIOUS REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES
FOR THE PRESIDENCY, THE ONLY TIME THEY REALLY SEEM TO CARE
ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS PURELY OVERSEAS IN THAT AREA IS WHEN
YOU REFER TO THE PERSECUTION AND KILLING OF THE YAZIDIS, BECAUSE
THEY HAVE THE BENEFIT OF BEING CHRISTIANS.
IF THERE IS A
GENOCIDE, MAYBE THAT WILL LEAD US TO SEND IN TENS OF THOUSANDS
OF GROUND TROOPS WHICH WOULD BE ANOTHER DISASTER.
19,000 ALMOST
IS OBVIOUSLY DISASTROUS, THE ACTUAL NUMBER IS ALMOST
CERTAINLY HIGHER --
>> THEY ARE REFERRING TO PEOPLE
WHO DIED IN ACTS OF ACTUAL
VIOLENCE, AS OPPOSED TO THE BYPRODUCTS AND AFTER EFFECTS OF
THE VIOLENCE.
IN ADDITION JUST TO THE KILLED AND WOUNDED YOU
HAVE --
>> HERE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT ISIS, IF WE REFER TO THE
CASUALTIES FROM SOME OF THE RESULTS TO FIGHT BACK --
>> THAT IS THE
HUNDREDS THAT THE U.N. IS COMFORTABLE IDENTIFYING.
>>THAT, BY THE WAY, IS ACTUALLY BETTER THAN MOST COUNTRIES,
WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN WILLING TO ACKNOWLEDGE ANY CIVILIAN
DEATHS AS A RESULT OF AIRSTRIKES.
>>THE RUSSIANS IN PARTICULAR, A GENERAL WAS ON THE RADIO THIS
MORNING AND THEY CONDUCTED OVER 6000 AIR RAIDS SINCE THEIR
INVOLVEMENT, THEY ARE CATEGORICAL THAT THEY HAVE HAD
ZERO CIVILIAN DEATHS.
ZERO.
>> ZERO IS HOW MANY FUCKS THEY GIVE ABOUT HOW MANY
CIVILIANS THEY HAVE KILLED, THAT IS THE ZERO.
>> AND WE DON'T NEED TO REVISIT IT BUT WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE
EXTENT TO WHICH LEGITIMATE TARGETS -- HOW THEY DEFINE
MILITANTS VERSUS HOW OTHER PEOPLE DEFINE IT.
COLLATERAL
DAMAGE IS AN AWFUL PHRASE, BUT I BELIEVE IT IS FAR HIGHER THAN
THESE ESTIMATES.
THE OTHER THING THAT IS INTERESTING ABOUT ISIS
IS IT IS NOT THE SHEER WEIGHT OF THE NUMBERS, WE TALK ABOUT IT
LIKE GALLOWS HUMOR, BUT IT KIND OF FEELS A BIT LIKE THAT
SOMETIMES.
YOU ALMOST BECOME DEADENED TO IT, BUT IT IS THOSE
HORRIFIC IMAGES OF HOW SOME CIVILIANS HAVE DIED.
>>WITH ISIS THAT IS THE CASE.
>>HOW THE BARBARISM -- HOW IT IS CARRIED OUT, AND HOW THAT
PUNISHMENT IS METED OUT, GRABS OUR ATTENTION AS MUCH AS A
STATISTIC.
>>THAT IS THE ONLY THING THAT DOES, AT THIS POINT.
EVEN WITH
THESE SCHOOL SHOOTINGS, IT WAS NUMB, NUMB, THEN KINDERGARTEN,
THEN NUMB, NUMB AGAIN.
AND I THINK THE PURE TORTURE AND
UGLINESS -- YOU LOOK AT THIS, AND I SAY THIS FACETIOUSLY, BUT
WHEN YOU SEE WHAT LIFE IS LIKE THERE, IT IS ALMOST LIKE DEATH
IS NOT BETTER, BUT THE TWO AREN'T VERY DIFFERENT.
THEY ARE
SLAVES.
NOT JUST CHILDREN FORCED INTO FIGHTING, BUT PEOPLE FORCED
INTO SLAVERY.
WOMEN BEING FORCED INTO SEX.
THE LIFE THERE IS SO
UNIMAGINABLY BAD, IT IS HARD TO -- WE LOOK AT THE DEATH AND WE
ARE SHOCKED BY IT AND NUMB TO IT, BUT WE ARE LOOKING AT
THE LIFE AND WE ARE ALSO SHOCKED AND NUMB TO IT.
>>AND THE MORAL IMPERATIVE FOR COUNTRIES, WESTERN POWERS, TO
TAKE IN THESE REFUGEES IS INESCAPABLE.
AND YET AGAIN THE
NUMBERS ARE UNIMAGINABLE.
1.1 MILLION IN GERMANY LAST YEAR.
ALL THE NUMBERS WE ARE FAMILIAR WITH.
200,000 IN SWEDEN.
IT IS
AN UNIMAGINABLE SCALE.
>> JUST INSIDE IRAQ, 3.2 MILLION PEOPLE DISPLACED JUST WITHIN THE
BORDERS.
SYRIA EASILY HAVING A LARGER NUMBER.
AND OF COURSE
WE HAVE TWO DIFFERENT SITUATIONS THERE, BUT THE SITUATIONS SHARE
THE FACT THAT THEY ARE HORRIFIC FOR THE PEOPLE THERE, AND A LOT
OF NEWS HAS THANKFULLY BEEN MADE BECAUSE THIS WAS SHOCKING ENOUGH
THAT THERE ARE ENTIRE COMMUNITIES SURVIVING BARELY ON
GRASS SOUP IN SOME AREAS OF SYRIA.
HONESTLY HORRENDOUS
INSIDE IRAQ.
ONE REASON WE HAVE THIS BLOCK OF STORIES, THE
ATTACK IN PAKISTAN AND THE REPORT ABOUT IRAQ, IS ALTHOUGH
THE GROUPS ARE DIFFERENT, YOU GET TO 19,000 CIVILIANS DEAD IN
IRAQ THROUGH COUNTLESS ACTS NOT THAT DISSIMILAR FROM THE ATTACK
ON THE UNIVERSITY IN PAKISTAN.
AND IT IS NEWSWORTHY IN
PAKISTAN, IT IS THE DAILY LIFE IN IRAQ.
AND WHEN I THINK BACK
TO -- AND I KNOW THIS IS -- WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF TYT
I THINK ABOUT THE WAR IN IRAQ, THAT WAS THE POLITICAL SITUATION
EARLY WHEN WE WERE BROADCASTING, AND THE DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER WE
SHOULD GO.
AND IF YOU CAN TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT FUCK 'EM, THEY
HIT US ON 9/11, AND YOU CAN SAY IN 14 YEARS WE WILL FIND OUT
THAT IN JUST ONE YEAR 19,000 CIVILIANS WERE KILLED.
A DECADE
AFTER YOU DON'T REALLY CARE THAT MUCH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED ON A
DAY-TO-DAY BASIS, THE ACTS OF BARBARITY THAT WILL RIPPLE OUT
FROM OUR ACTIONS -- OBVIOUSLY ANYTHING COULD HAVE HAPPENED IN
IRAQ IN 14 YEARS, SADDAM HUSSEIN COULD HAVE BEEN OVERTHROWN, IT
COULD HAVE DESCENDED INTO CHAOS ON ITS OWN.
BUT WE CHOSE TO GET
INVOLVED, AND TO SOME EXTENT WE BEAR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS.
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TALIBAN COULD HAVE THEORETICALLY
LED TO THE ATTACK IN PAKISTAN, THAT IS HARDER TO PLACE.
BUT WE ARE LINKED TO THESE EVENTS.
>>WE WILL NEVER KNOW.
MY GUESS IS THAT SADDAM HUSSEIN WOULD
STILL BE IN POWER, BUT HE WOULD NOT HAVE WEAPONS OF MASS
DISTRACTION, HE STILL WOULDN'T HAVE THEM.
THERE STILL WOULDN'T
HAVE BEEN A DIRECT LINK BETWEEN HIM AND WHAT HAPPENED ON 9/11.
YEAH, WE ALL -- WE ALL -- A NUMBER OF PEOPLE, THE RELEVANT
PEOPLE, GOT WHIPPED UP INTO A FRENZY, WE DON'T NEED TO REVISIT
THAT, BUT A LOT OF IT IS STILL ON THOSE DECISION-MAKERS.