October 11, 2006

Iraqi death toll

Estimates of the Iraqi death toll during the war and subsequent occupation range from the mid tens of thousands, up to a new high today of 650,000. Multiplied by a scaling factor to make that proportionate to America you could wipe out one of these states; Massachusets, Washington, Indiana, Tennessee, or Arizona. Actually, with the latter ones you would need to throw in a few extras, like Vermont or Alaska to make up for the shortfall.

I don't mean to make light of this. I just want to illustrate what it means for one person in twenty to die, and what that would mean in America. And you have to figure that for all of those deaths, there are five to ten times as many injured.

How many people would have died in your family if one in twenty were killed? Of your friends? How many would be injured if every one in five were seriously injured in the occupation?

Posted by jherr at October 11, 2006 01:07 PM
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