So with all the doom and gloom on the news, I was looking forward to the Brookings report to see what was really going on.
In February, US soldiers killed in action or wounded has gone down for the 4th straight month in a row (all graphs popup):
Here's the breakout:
So the numbers are mostly sliding down. IED deaths are back up, but the others are lower, and no helicopter crashes this month. Woundings are also down:
Which tells me that the US forces are continuing to do less and less military actions each day, leaving more to the Iraqis. How's that doing? Lets see:
Number of Iraqi Policemen killed dropped in February:
As did the number of civilians killed:
How to jive that with the news? Most of those bombings in February caused lots of people to be injured, so those were up in February though deaths were down:
More people were affected in those bombings but the bombings were less severe.
So better or worse in Iraq? Better I think. And for all the doom and gloom on the news, there is no civil war, and the Iraqis are working together. So its seems like the insurgents took a shot and it fizzled. The media pumped it up, but the end result is a big yawn, even for the Iraqis.
Comments (19)
man, you are sad. i mean it. really sad. where is your SOUL? do you have one? Where is you sense of REALITY? Does it exist? Youare the perfect example, archetype, of a professional without merit. seriously. i am now passing your blog as an example of this to my friends…
OP you are a smart man, but my god, you are extremely out of touch…maybe this is an example of financial capitalist speak before the Kondrateiff fall……who knows….
in any event..and i am being nice…you are an incompetent fool who supports the killing of our working class kids.we do hold you responsible
ernie
Posted by ernie | March 2, 2006 9:51 PM
Posted on March 2, 2006 21:51
Love and kisses Ernie
Posted by Opinionated Bastard![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.opinionatedbastard.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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March 3, 2006 1:23 AM
Posted on March 3, 2006 01:23
ernie, keep thinking with those emotions. Because it means your not thinking at all. It’ll be the end of your kind of political ideals.
Posted by monolithfoo | March 5, 2006 2:32 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 14:32
Ernie, I am passing on your post to my friends as a perfect example of why the Lefties keep losing elections: Their cranio-anal inversions prevent them from seeing reality and the fumes they inhale prevent them from being either logical or coherent.
‘Working Class Kids’. How the hell would you know. You sound like a typical Lefty trustfund baby to me.
Posted by JorgXMckie | March 5, 2006 2:50 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 14:50
Iraq has a population less than 10% of the US. Your graph shows a lower bound estimate of 200-300 civilians killed per month, which would be equivalent to 2000-3000 civilians killed in the US per month. One 9/11 per month. Every month.
And you think that’s a big yawn for you?
Posted by Joel | March 5, 2006 3:20 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 15:20
Yea Joel, and when Saddam was still in power (remember him?), the number was TEN TIMES that.
But those people didn’t matter, did they?
Posted by TomB | March 5, 2006 4:03 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 16:03
They did to me. I didn’t say “big yawn” then. I don’t say “big yawn” now. Apparently, you disagree.
Posted by Joel | March 5, 2006 4:06 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 16:06
So what would you have Joel? Saddam still in power and thousands of people dead each month, or a rapidly pacifying Iraq under US control with hundreds of deaths?
Posted by TomB | March 5, 2006 4:09 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 16:09
” …a rapidly pacifying Iraq under US control … “
heh.
Yeah. Right. Last thoes still, huh?
Posted by Joel | March 5, 2006 4:16 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 16:16
Make that “last throes.” Like the administration’s been proclaiming for two years.
Oh, and go ahead and fling your smarmy invective at me. I’m outta here. Just wanted to see what Glenn thinks passes for serious analysis these days. Guess it is true what you guys are saying about the sinking standards of the professoriate.
Bye!
Posted by Joel | March 5, 2006 4:21 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 16:21
Don’t go yet, Joel. You have yet to tell me why the thousands of people who died under Saddam weren’t worth out sympathy, while those that die now are. I’m still waiting.
And yes, Iraq is pacifying. According to the US Commander in Iraq:
“Despite the sectarian violence, the number of suicide bombers in Iraqi in February stood at 17, about half the total in January. Last summer, there were about 60 per month. Suicide-bomber attacks are the main tactic of al Qaeda in Iraq, the foreign infiltrators whose numbers have declined in the face of tighter border-control measures.”
But I’m sure you’ll say that warmongering soldier isn’t telling the truth.
What’s it like to actually have to root for people to die to support your side Joel?
Posted by TomB | March 5, 2006 4:29 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 16:29
“Your graph shows a lower bound estimate of 200-300 civilians killed per month, which would be equivalent to 2000-3000 civilians killed in the US per month. One 9/11 per month. Every month.
And you think that’s a big yawn for you?”
More Americans are killed on our nation’s highways every month. Where’s your outrage over that?
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March 5, 2006 5:38 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 17:38
Excellent work. I have a very similar analyis on the data at:
http://presidentaristotle.blogspot.com/2006/03/good-news-from-iraq-hard-facts-for_05.html
Posted by GrenfellHunt | March 5, 2006 6:54 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 18:54
My friend Laura Turner believes that you may be using incomplete data that doesn’t go all the way until the end of February. Could you comment on this? Her post is here
Posted by Neil the Ethical Werewolf | March 5, 2006 7:20 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 19:20
Sorry to see you go Joel.
I hope you consider one thing: when you find it impossible to argue against something that TomB is saying, this could actually mean that he’s right about it, and that you were wrong.
Posted by Electrolux | March 5, 2006 7:22 PM
Posted on March 5, 2006 19:22
I can see why Joel left. The level of argumentation here is:
So what if people are dying in Iraq, it was worse under Sadaam, why aren’t you upset about that???
So what if people are dying in Iraq, more people die in automobile accidents in the US, why aren’t you upset about that???
That reasoning wouldn’t get you into a high school debate club, yet you seem to think it somehow proves you’re right. But I guess you have you have to dumb down your thought processes to convince yourselves that everything is hunky-dory in Iraq.
Posted by zen_less![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.opinionatedbastard.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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March 6, 2006 3:26 AM
Posted on March 6, 2006 03:26
This blog has never argued that things are hunky-dory. That sort of twisting of the facts won’t get you into a high-school debate club either.
This blog has always argued:
It sucks to be an Iraqi. It sucks less now that Saddam has gone.
What Joel and others miss I think is the moral cost of inaction can be larger then the moral cost of action. If you review my older posts on Iraq, you’ll find that I don’t think we’ve been sunshine and daffodils to the Iraqis, but I don’t think its as simple as us being evil warmongers either.
The world is complicated, the war is complicated.
It would be nice if I could rely on the media to help, but I can’t.
So I blog.
Posted by Opinionated Bastard![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.opinionatedbastard.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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March 6, 2006 3:57 AM
Posted on March 6, 2006 03:57
I’m sure that when Saddam Hussein emptied out his jails before the start of the war, dumping thousands of violent criminals onto the streets, they just integrated right back into the mainstream. Hmm.
Posted by diablovision | March 6, 2006 8:35 PM
Posted on March 6, 2006 20:35
hi, just found this site linked to an old Instapundit post. Interesting stuff; do you have some more recent graphs? Might be interesting to see the trend.
Posted by e | November 3, 2006 1:09 AM
Posted on November 3, 2006 01:09