http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070116/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq Yet another exaggeration propagated by the left. And had saddam had still been in power, he would have surely killed at least 34,000 of his own civilians last year for fun. And if Iraq weren't at war, then 34,000 surely would have died in regular gang related activities and car accidents. 34,000 is a drop in the bucket in terms of lives. Focus on the bigger picture. Welcome to democracy. Like it?
"Yet another exaggeration propagated by the left." Which part is exaggerated? We've known for the past 6 months (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0719-06.htm) that there were more than 100 Iraqi civilian deaths per day, so it can't be the 34,000 you're complaining about, can it? We've all seen the reports stating that 3,000+ were willed in one month or another... are they all wrong? Who would you rather believe, the Iraqi government, who stands to gain from reporting low numbers and making the situation appear like it's getting better, or the UN, who really has nothing to gain as it was dragged into the war kicking and screaming. Yes, Sadam probably would have killed at least that many. What about your so-called "regular" deaths? As far as i know, those still happened this year... the article pointed to 34,000 deaths due to sectarian violence. While the sectarian violence probably kept more people inside and reduced the other death statistics a bit, it didn't eliminate them completely. Go over there and ask one of the Iraqi's which they would rather have, sectarian violence for your "regular" deaths. You say that it's just a drop in the bucket... Why don't you send your son/daughter/husband/wife/other beloved family member over there and see if you still think 34,000 is just a drop in the bucket.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jan 16 2007, 10:53 AM) [snapback]376222[/snapback]</div> I think and hope that burritos is being facetious.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alric @ Jan 16 2007, 10:19 AM) [snapback]376230[/snapback]</div> I was pretending to be an enthusiastic neo con.
While facesiast, Burritos reply is accurrate. Sadam was killing approximately thiss same number of his own people every year. We just didn't know about because NOBODY SEEMED TO CARE! In some respects he still is killing them since at least some of the "insurgents" are remnants of his government that are just pissed about being out of power. Given the numbers bandied about, the Iraqi violent death rate is 1.3 for every thousand citiznes and the U.S. overall violent death rate is 1.6 for every ten-thousand. Yes about a ten fold increase but Iraq is not, has never been and probably never will be the United States. Try and get numbers for violent death rates in in Jordan or Egypt or Saudi Arabia and lets see if the number s are still a ten fold difference. Anyway, lots of luck. THis is why I moved to Nevada! (eventhough you California's have moved here and ruined it for us cigar smokers-STAY IN CALIFONRIA!).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Devil's Advocate @ Jan 16 2007, 07:43 PM) [snapback]376360[/snapback]</div> Sources? I'm not sure I find this statement credible.