Quote:
Originally Posted by Professor S
3) How exactly is America imposing their will on the Iraqi people, beyond removing Saddam Hussein by force (you know, killer of 1.5 million Iraqis)?
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My knowledge on all this is shaky so correct me if I make a mistake. Also taking sources from different areas so numbers might be a little off.
Hussein was in power for 34 years. He originally rose to power legally...as did Hitler...as did Bush. In 34 years he killed 1.5 million Iraqis. On average that would be 62,500 a year.
Since the U.S. occupation the Iraqi civilian body count is between 68,740 and 74,900. That's in four years. So an average of 17,995.
But it isn't the same every year as I'm sure Hussein's rule wasn't either.
* 2003: 12,000 (5,000 if excluding the invasion)
* 2004: 10,500
* 2005: 14,000
* 2006: 24,000
So excluding the initial invasion, more and more people die each year. If it keeps going this way, it'll eventually end up worse than Hussein's regime. And those numbers don't even include Iraqi insurgents or U.S. troops killed.
Lesser of two evils? Maybe for a time. But to suggest that the country is now free and peachy is a gross understatement.
sources:
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and good old wikipedia