Say Anything Blog

[...] I’ll wait until some independent experts analyze these findings and weigh in with their opinions on the methods used before I say much, but I’m certainly more inclined to believe the numbers quoted above than those put forth by the Lancet study (which had civilian casualties at around 100,000) put out last year. Will the hysterical, anti-war left set aside their support of the previous report in favor of these numbers which, as of right now, look far more reasonable or will they continue to try and hype the outrageous findings of the Lancet report? [...]

[...] One of the pillars of the anti-war movement is the “high level” of civilian casualties, or “collateral damage,” seen in Iraq. Numerous studies have been done on this topic (one Lancet study put the number of civilian casualties at 100,000 over a year ago), but Logic Times points out some fallacies in the numbers being reported in these studies. One of the foundation blocks of anti-war protest against the United States in Iraq is civilian casualties, which viscerally represents a country in ruin, a tragic human face on Bush’s warmongering. This perspective, of course, ignores the civilian carnage during the reign of Saddam Hussein (see Fuzzy Moral Math) and instead focuses on the perceived chaos in Iraq today. And this newfound concern for Iraqi civilian life is not only a staple of the anti-war Left, it is a convenient club wielded by mainstream Democrats in Washington, who argue that chaos in Iraq represents failed policy… [...]