… as the shattered maternity hospital in Syria proves.
Collateral Damage is a cold, cruel and cowardly euphemism.
It is an evil phrase developed to cloak the stinking cadaver of civilisation –
an ineffective gauze to cover the curdled milk of human kindness. It is
dishonest. It is fraudulent.
The latest ‘Collateral Damage’ was at a maternity hospital
in Syria – the only working facility of its kind in the area. The people in the
hospital may have thought they were mothers, medical staff, family, and newly
delivered infants. No. They have been reduced to Collateral Damage, as the building was reduced to rubble. Victims
included a mother-to-be who was 6 months pregnant and lost a leg.
Collateral Damage is one of the horrible side-effects of
war. Sad but unavoidable, we are told. Targeting of civilians is illegal. Great. There is, however, a thin and often crossed line between targeting and callous disregard.
Apart from the deliberate dehumanising effect of the term
it can also give the false sense that non-combatant casualties are a minor or
infrequent event. But civilians regularly make up a huge proportion of the
deaths and injuries in contemporary conflicts.
And there is something almost self-knowing about the
phrase. ‘Collateral’, in its bare sense, means a guarantee, surety, security.
In monetary terms collateral is something you might put up to secure a loan for
example. There is nothing secure or guaranteed about being an innocent civilian
in this world. Innocence buys you nothing.
This latest incident briefly grabbed a headline because of
the very obviously awful nature of the result when the maternity hospital at
Kafar Takharim was hit. But for the vast majority of us who have no choice
about whether war is waged or not, the idea of being caught up in fatal
violence and gross brutality is something we cannot imagine. For many other
poor unfortunates, it is a real possibility every minute of every day.
Language in war is an interesting area. Many years ago
there was a popular term ‘Human Shields’. This term referred to civilians who
were used by combatants to protect themselves from their adversaries. I recall
claim and counter-claim that armed groups planted themselves near or within
civilian populations to deter the enemy attacking them. ‘Human Shields’ as a
term, is almost redundant now. Harming civilians seems to have become accepted
and acceptable. That is why Collateral Damage as a term has become embedded.
What it tells us is – killing innocent by-standers is no longer a deterrent.
The presence of women, children, the sick, the elderly, anyone who has no
choice to be in the vicinity will not stop the pulling of triggers, the
detonating of explosives, the aerial bombardments. If you happen to be in the
way – tough.
It is disgusting.
As aid agencies and charities and human rights groups
trying to operate in these hell holes, condemn the human carnage, the standard
response is one of regret (from whichever side) or blame. The idea that this is
just what you put up with in war seems to have taken hold. And yet those who
use the phrase show that they understand the vile nature of these acts and
their callous attitude to them by using the term. They cannot call it what it
is. They have invented this term to protect themselves and shield the
sensibilities of the public in their own countries where they know the dark
killing of innocent by-standers could not be covered by fair words.
It is a classic indicator of the world’s double standards.
The people injured are not like you and me and the building
damaged when the maternity hospital was hit was not vital for the very basics of
a safe beginning in life – they were just Collateral
Damage.
And as the rock of war is dropped into social ponds around
the world the destabilising ripples spread ever outwards. The men women and
children daily blown up in Iraq by warring factions in a fractured country are Collateral Damage. Children separated
from their parents and the protection of properly organised society, as they
flee war zones, put at the mercy of bandits and traffickers are also Collateral Damage. There is always
something more important than their safety.
Old people and the sick and disabled unable to get health
care because their country’s systems of social care have been obliterated are Collateral Damage. We know roughly the
numbers of combatants killed and maimed but those we refer to as Collateral
Damage whether in the immediate aftermath of a skirmish or in the horrible
months that follow, are too numerous to count. Nobody knows, for example, how
many civilians died during and after the invasion of Iraq. They are unknown and
uncounted.
Surely it’s time to name this barbarity, this denial of
humanity. It is the harming and mass murder of innocents.
The new UK government – with its unelected leader - was
quick to confirm the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapon. And Prime Minister
Mrs May was quicker to confirm that she would be completely comfortable
pressing the trigger.
If you can, put aside the billions to be wasted on this
murderous vanity project. Think instead of this. When some idiot – in this
country or another - finally presses the trigger there will be no Collateral
Damage.
Because there will be no one left to utter that lie.