Iraqi president Jalal Talabani said Wednesday that
1,091 were killed due to civil-strife related violence in Baghdad in last month alone. That's a lot of grieving Iraqis - mothers, fathers, children, lovers, friends, cousins, aunts, uncles... It's a hard number to put into context. What would that scale of violence do to the US?
Baghdad has a population of
5,753,612 The US has a population of
299,093,237. So a comparable death rate in the US would be 56,712 a
month. 680,546 a year.
What does that compare to? What would that mean? 9/11 killed 2,986 so it's worse than a 9/11 every other day. As bad as year of murders every week. Worse than the current leading cause of death, heart disease. An average person knowing 2000 people would attend a funeral every other month. Death by violence, and trying to avoid it, would be the focus of life.
No society can take that. Civil society depends on a modicum of safety - that being mowed down by your fellow humans isn't your #1 concern. This is why life in Iraq worsens day by day - with constant new lows in electricity, the water supply, food expenses, and medical care. This is hell on earth.
Is this war? Let's look at what Republicans had to say about 9/11.
Ann Coulter: This is War.
Donald Rumsfeld: This is War.
Dick Cheney: This is War.
George W Bush: This is War.
Well, Ms. Coulter, Mr. Rumsfeld, Mr. Vice President Cheney, and Mr. President Bush, what do you call a 9/11 attack EVERY OTHER DAY!!! You call it war!
And all that blood on their hands, for a brutal, foolish, incompetent, and unjustified attack on a nation uninvolved - that they knew was uninvolved - in 9/11. If they want to try to stop this war, rather than "staying the course" as a country is ripped apart, they should do what the overwhelming majority of Iraqis and overwhelming majority of American servicemen want and leave promptly.