On 9/11 3,000 people were violently killed in attacks on the USA. Those events etched themselves into the soul of every American, and reverberated around the world. In December 2005 President George Bush acknowledged 30,000 known Iraqi violent deaths in a country one tenth the size of the USA. That is already a death toll 100 times greater in its impact on the Iraqi nation than 9/11 was on the USA. That there are more deaths that have not yet come to light is certain, but if a change in policy is needed, the catastrophic roll-call of the already known dead is more than ample justification for that change.
Note for press and media. The Lancet researchers documented 300 violent deaths. Iraq has reached such a sorry state that IBC records 300 deaths every few days
In the Tikrit area frequented by US troops, three to five IEDs a day is considered average. That is one of the safe areas, by the way. Three to five explosive devices set off every day is a safe area. “Light to moderate ground fire” is pretty much a weather report in Iraq
. Everyone says it will get worse if we pull out. No one mentions that it is already getting worse because we stay there. The complete destruction of the social fabric of twenty million people tends to make a nation unstable. Having a foreign power come in and play favorites while “setting up a democratic government” doesn’t stabilize things. In two thousand three I spoke out on this board that imposing a democratic government was a contradiction in terms, and mentioned that I would fight as a guerilla against any government set up in the US by an outside power, however corrupt the government of the my country had become. I was denounced as a jingoist. I was told that my opinion of the Iraqi people was bigoted, and condescending. I was right. It is sad, but it is true. I am right again.
We will be defeated in Iraq. If it takes the people of Iraq a generation, they will defeat us. When we are finally driven out, all the quislings will be executed, if they are not lynched, or burned alive by mobs. The quislings are well aware of this. We have earned the hatred of a generation, at least, in two countries, at least. But we did make the US safe for the incumbent politicians for two cycles, so the whole thing was worth it, to the people who decided to do it.
To be fair, the link quoted in no way supports the war. They make it clear that even the reduced number they believe in is unacceptable. I dispute their reasoning, but they seem honest, and no doubt worry that people won’t believe this large number.