Iraqi Lives Less Valuable?
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I realize we are all thinking about the primaries right now and wondering which Democrat is going to lead us out of this mess, but I think this study merits some attention in the "lull" between NH and NV.
Much of the opposition to the Iraq war centers on the costs to our troops: almost 4,000 dead and dozens of thousands grievously wounded.
But the picture is incomplete if we fail to account for the cost that Iraq has incurred. The most credible study to date has just been published, estimating that 151,000 Iraqis died in the three years after the United States invaded. Note that the study's timeframe closed in June 2006, so we have another 18 months of unaccounted for casualties.
Are Iraqi lives less valuable than American ones? If so, by how much? Even if an Iraqi life is 50x less valuable *and* you believe that Iraq had something to do with 9/11 (both faulty assumptions, but bear with me), we broke even in June 2006 by inflicting 50x more casualties on the Iraqis than we suffered on 9/11.
Meantime, when are we going to stop the hand-wringing about the effects of a precipitous pullout? The sooner we get out, the sooner the Iraqis will stop suffering at our hands.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22578010/from/ET/
Much of the opposition to the Iraq war centers on the costs to our troops: almost 4,000 dead and dozens of thousands grievously wounded.
But the picture is incomplete if we fail to account for the cost that Iraq has incurred. The most credible study to date has just been published, estimating that 151,000 Iraqis died in the three years after the United States invaded. Note that the study's timeframe closed in June 2006, so we have another 18 months of unaccounted for casualties.
Are Iraqi lives less valuable than American ones? If so, by how much? Even if an Iraqi life is 50x less valuable *and* you believe that Iraq had something to do with 9/11 (both faulty assumptions, but bear with me), we broke even in June 2006 by inflicting 50x more casualties on the Iraqis than we suffered on 9/11.
Meantime, when are we going to stop the hand-wringing about the effects of a precipitous pullout? The sooner we get out, the sooner the Iraqis will stop suffering at our hands.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22578010/from/ET/
Most estimates that I have read of the Iraqi deaths are closer to 500,000.
And it is not just the deaths, it is also the horrible things that have happened to these people, especially women who have been forced into exile in places like Syria.
And I also hope that while people are thinking about how much Hillary says that she supports women and children that they will also remember that on September 6 she crossed party lines and voted against a military appropriations amendment that would have limited the use of cluster bombs in Iraq. Cluster bombs kill far more civilians, women and children than soldiers.
She supports women? Spare me.
Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =TpGMiAlVM6g