Monday, January 1, 2007
Bad News!
Deaths are way down in Iraq.
As enraged crowds protested the hanging of Saddam Hussein across Iraq's Sunni heartland Monday, government officials reported that 16,273 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police died violent deaths in 2006, a figure larger than an independent Associated Press count for the year by more than 2,500.
... The Associated Press accounting, gleaned from daily news reports from Baghdad, arrived at a total of 13,738 deaths. The United Nations has said as many as 100 Iraqis die violently each day, which translates into 36,500 deaths annually.
What the enraged crowds of several hundred Sunnis in several different places and Saddam on a rope have to do with it, I'm not entirely sure, but it sure makes it look worse! Here's the bad news for al-P and other defeat fans: Deaths are down in Iraq. With the Lancet poll estimate at 655,000 dead since the US-led invasion of 2003, that means the average of more than 200,000 a year has dropped virtually off the charts! Even if you look at the worst case scenario, that the October 2004 estimate of only 100,000 dead is correct, that means we're down from an annual average of more than 65,000!
This is terrible news. It means there may actually be reason for hope in Iraq!
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If the death numbers dropped from 200,000 per year to a little over 14,000 they have literally dropped off the charts. I'm sure the dims are responsible and only after 2 months of the year.
