Counting Corpses

Canaday's poem "Iraq by Numbers" has drawn criticism from an anonymous reader who disputes the corpse tally. His response was lengthy enough to merit a new post. Go to "Iraq by Numbers" and click on "comments" to read what the disputer has to say.

Dear Anonymous,
Iraqi death toll counts are abundant and there are over 20 different surveys. Tolls differ depending who you ask. Bush and other invaders like to site under 100,000 deaths and some sources, the ORB site for instance, claim 733,158 to 1,446,063. Of course, Bush stated prewar Iraqi attributes including Al-Queda ties, Nukes, long range missiles, and vast chemical programs. Many survey are in the 600,000 range.

One thing for sure is that Iraq is much more dangerous now while we are occupying the country then when Hussein was in power (although I am sure the Kurds would dissagree). The fact is no one knows how many Iraqis are dead, and sadly many people don't care. Wether the toll is 100,000 or 1 million, the Iraqis citizens paid a huge price. The war was not against the overall common people of Iraq, it was against the Hussein regime.

Don't get the wrong idea, I am not a Hussein lover, I have no problem with his death. I personally supported the initial invasion and respect know one more than our precious men and women in the armed forces . My point is simply "it is time to get out." For the sake of correctness I will edit the poem. Do you have a problem with any other numbers, or just the dead Iraqis? A good article on this subject is http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/19/iraq . At the end of the day, death count issues are sketchy and just one aspect of whole picture.

There is another statistic that has changed in the last day. President Obama is not sending 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, he is now sending 34,000 instead. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mike Canaday