Like a lot of people, I always thought of war as a sometimes necessary evil where young men are sent to their death by old men who are safely out of range. Then I came upon this editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2602465
It’s a terrific and eye opening article that deepened my understanding of who exactly dies in war. Perhaps I should not have been surprised but I was.
This study from the references really hit me hard.
Jawad M, Hone T, Vamos EP, Roderick P, Sullivan R, Millett C. Estimating indirect mortality impacts of armed conflict in civilian populations: panel regression analyses of 193 countries, 1990-2017. BMC Med 2020;18:266-266
In the 27 years between 1990 - 2017, indirect mortality in civilian populations in 193 countries expereincing armed conflict was estimated at 21,000,000, mostly children.
That is a sobering statistic to say the least.
So when you see our leaders on TV stoking the flames of war, remember who dies.
Dogs of war and men of hate
With no cause, we don’t discriminate
Discovery is to be disowned
Our currency is flesh and bone
Hell opened up and put on sale
Gather round and haggle
For hard cash, we will lie and deceive
Even our Masters don’t know the webs we weave
Invisible transfers and long distance calls
Hollow laughter in marble halls
Steps have been taken, a silent uproar
Has unleashed the dogs of war
You can’t stop what has begun
Signed, sealed, they deliver oblivion
We all have our dark side to say the least
And dealing in death is the nature of the beast
The dogs of war don’t negotiate
The dogs of war won’t capitulate
They will take and you will give
And you must die so that they may live
You can knock at any door
But wherever you go, you know they’ve been there before
Well winners can lose and things can get strained
But whatever you change, you know the dogs remain
Lyrics by David Gilmour and Anthony Moore
