Red Poppies, Not White

I listened this morning on the CBC (Communist Broadcasting Corporation) to an advocate of the White Poppy, rather than the red, on Remembrance Day, signifying peaceful alternatives to war.

[A laudable, idealistic, feelings-based notion, with little hope of success in real life and a potential to spawn dictators and despots]

The woman gave the following statistics, to make a point.

The ratio of civilian casualties in World War 1 was 30%.

In WW2, the ratio rose to 50%.

In the War in Iraq the ratio of civilians to military is allegedly a whopping 80%.

So this was used to prove that all wars are evil and we therefore need an alternative ... hence the White Poppy.

But, surely, Ms CBC was missing the real significance of her statistical analysis.

If accurate, the frightening figure of 80% does not prove that conventional warfare is going horribly wrong and that the troops should come home.

I contend that it proves that the violence in Iraq is largely perpertrated by terrorists who kill and maim, not indiscriminately, but deliberately by targeting civilians.