Mary Henry (Independent)

Most people in the United States rely on television coverage for their knowledge of current events. During our last debate on Iraq, I suggested that we phone friends in America to see what they thought of the progress of the war. I have done so, and they do not have access to the same sort of information as we are getting. Television channels in the US appear to have sanitised the news coming out of Iraq so that Americans have no knowledge of civilian casualties and very little knowledge of casualties among their own troops, especially not of those killed in what is described as friendly fire, in other words killed by their own comrades.

I second Senator Norris's proposal to debate the appalling carnage going on in Iraq due to the use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium bombs. Americans do not see the television images we see of limbless children and sufferers of third degree burns, all of whom will die. We have no idea what the numbers of civilian casualties are in this war, but they are vast. Given the way the war is being prosecuted, and the lack of knowledge of the general citizenry of America, we have a duty to try to let people know what is going on.