Iraqi Casualties in Perspective
In Baghdad today, 133 people were killed in what appears to have been a co-ordinated attack from six car bombs in Shi’ite areas of the Iraqi capital. So what do the numbers mean?
To put them into perspective, let’s look at the number of Iraqi civilians killed last month. The United Nations puts the number at 3,700, although the Iraqi health minister puts the number lower. I will take the UN’s number since the minister has a vested interest in giving a lower number.
Compare that to the number of German civilians killed per month during the Second World War, 2000-2200, and the significance of the number becomes clearer. But that is not all, Germany had a base population of 78 million at the time and Iraq’s population is 26 million. So in a like for like comparison, Iraqi civilians are now being killed at five times the rate of German civilians during WWII. Note, the estimate for German civilian deaths is from the years during civilian bombing as there were no appreciable casualties before that.
Looking at civilian casualty numbers for Spain during Spanish Civil War also casts some light. During the three years of that conflict about 300,000 civilians were killed, or about 8000 a month.
The conclusion? Iraq is in a civil war that has the lid kept on it by coalition forces.
To put them into perspective, let’s look at the number of Iraqi civilians killed last month. The United Nations puts the number at 3,700, although the Iraqi health minister puts the number lower. I will take the UN’s number since the minister has a vested interest in giving a lower number.
Compare that to the number of German civilians killed per month during the Second World War, 2000-2200, and the significance of the number becomes clearer. But that is not all, Germany had a base population of 78 million at the time and Iraq’s population is 26 million. So in a like for like comparison, Iraqi civilians are now being killed at five times the rate of German civilians during WWII. Note, the estimate for German civilian deaths is from the years during civilian bombing as there were no appreciable casualties before that.
Looking at civilian casualty numbers for Spain during Spanish Civil War also casts some light. During the three years of that conflict about 300,000 civilians were killed, or about 8000 a month.
The conclusion? Iraq is in a civil war that has the lid kept on it by coalition forces.
posted by The Yank Abroad at 6:43 pm
1 Comments:
So....the conclusion is from the comedian in you struggling to the surface I take it?
How many were killed by CoW troops? How do we explain the participation of CoW troops in faciltating sectarian violence?
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