Letting Allah Sort Them Out

The WHO and the Iraq government released a new study that estimates over 150,000 Iraqis died a violent death in the three years following the Iraq invasion. Unlike the Lancet study, folks seem to be agreeing (more or less) that this number is reasonably correct. For anyone interested in tracking such things, that would be the equivalent of sixteen 9/11's per year.

On average, the US had about 16,500 homicides per year during the same period (the US is 10 times the population of Iraq).

The report also indicates an increase of non-violent death by 60%, which also seems like a reasonable estimate considering the conditions in the country after the war.

Certainly a good percentage of the violent death total is violence related to ethnic cleansing (i.e. Iraqi on Iraqi violence). This is hardly a comfort. The US bears full responsibility for what it unleashed in Iraq when it deposed Saddam. For that kind of madness to ensue under our watch, under our occupation, because of bad planning and the kind of political stubbornness that insisted we should "stay the course" when it was clear the course was bad, is unforgivable.

Think about that the next time someone says, "They hate us for our freedom." There are at least 150,000 thousand families in Iraq who have every reason to hate us for our policies.

If you lost your kid under the same circumstances, wouldn't you? I would. I would be a giant ball of fanatical seething hatred until the day I took my final breath.