.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}
The Expansionist
Monday, May 16, 2005
 
Multiply by 12. The numbers of dead out of Iraq are appalling in their absolute form, but to get a sense of what such numbers mean to Iraqis, Americans need to multiply by 12 to understand what those numbers would be if the same kinds of violence occurred in the United States, because the U.S. has 12 times the population of Iraq.
+
So take 400 dead in Iraq this past week and multiply by 12 to see what that would be here. You can do this in your head. First, multiply by 10: 400 x 10 = 4,000. Then, double the original number: 2 x 400 = 800. Then, add the two results: 4,000 + 800 = 4,800 dead Americans in a week. That's 2,000 more than died in the WTC and Pentagon attacks on 9/11.
+
In lite of these horrifying numbers, what should we make of claims by the Bush Administration that we are winning the war on terror in Iraq? Judge for yourself.
+
Each time you hear news reports of the number of dead or injured in Iraq, multiply by 12. 38 found "executed" in one morning (murdered, actually, not executed; they did not deserve to die for crimes), multiply by 12: 10 x 38 = 380; then 2 x 38 = 76; + 380 = 456 people shot in the head in one day here.
+
If this is winning the war in Iraq, I'd hate to know what losing would look like.
+
(The current U.S. military death toll in Iraq, according to the website "Iraq Coalition Casualties", is 1,622.)

- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 4:57 PM




<< Home

Powered by Blogger