Iraq Deaths

The killing in Iraq has gotten so out of hand that Americans at home may actually now be more aware of the number of Iraqis being killed than of the number of American service personnel deaths.

About 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. That same number is the monthly figure for Iraqis killed over the last two months. Each day 100 Iraqis die at the hands of criminals, insurgents and Americans. Most noticeable to Americans at home are the daily targeted sectarian assassinations of Shiites and Sunnis. [If you still think terror by suicidal killers is new, you should recall that the ancient word “assassin” comes from the arabic word “hashish”, the drug taken to induce killers whose political mission was to kill, knowing they would also likely be immediately caught and killed in retaliation].

In case you had not heard lately, US service personnel deaths in Iraq were 69 in May and 61 in June, with the total since the invasion now approaching 2,600. Just after the end of the year, the total should be about equal to the number who died on 9/11. Estimates of Iraqi deaths during that time vary, but a conservative, documented total of 40,000 seems an indisputable minimum.