[extropy-chat] POLITICS: terrorism and strategies

[J. Andrew Rogers]

> Ok, this can obviously be resolved by hard casualty/death figures.
> Let us see them.  If we have to question the sources, then let us do
> so.


Various sources put the total number of people murdered within Iraq from
1979-2003 (Saddam's regime) at 300k-1M people, depending on the source
(Google to verify).  The official US government estimates are the lowest
I could find, at 300k, internal Iraqi estimates are highest.  This
covers the systematic killing of the Kurds, the occasional purges of the
Shiites in the south, and routine miscellaneous political executions
around Baghdad.

This gives us a human life burn rate of 12.5k/year using BEST CASE
values for the murder rate of Saddam's regime.

Using the Iraqi Body Count page WORST CASE values, which goes back to
January 2003, we have a human life burn rate of 8k/year.   

So if I stack the deck with the values I use to put Saddam's regime in
the best possible light compared to the US military invasion, Saddam's
regime still comes up at >50% worse.  And the reality is almost
certainly far grimmer.

This also excludes the ~1M killed during the Iran-Iraq war.


j. andrew rogers