Tuesday, January 18, 2005
How dangerous is Iraq?
It depends on where you come from:
Without suggesting for a minute that Columbia and South Africa are the right benchmark for Iraq, this does suggest that life for ordinary Iraqis outside of the Sunni areas may not be all that bad.
Read the whole thing.
The death toll from anti-government Sunni Arab violence continues to rise. There are now 100-150 deaths a week. That may sound like a lot, especially the way each incident is breathlessly reported in the media. But for a country of 26 million, that comes to a rate of 14-20 dead per 100,000 population per year. Other countries are more violent, like Columbia and South Africa, but these are not considered news. Iraq’s death rate is about the same as was suffered by Thailand’s rebellious Moslem provinces last year. The Japanese army suicide rate last year was 39 per 100,000.
But for Iraqis, there has been a large increase. While the United States death rate from violence is 5-6 per 100,000, under Saddam, the death rate from crime and government terror was 10-20 dead per 100,000 per year. It was at that rate a year ago, but the death rate from this violence has nearly tripled since then. Moreover, the deaths fall disproportionately in Sunni Arab areas.
Without suggesting for a minute that Columbia and South Africa are the right benchmark for Iraq, this does suggest that life for ordinary Iraqis outside of the Sunni areas may not be all that bad.
Read the whole thing.
2 Comments:
By 
Gordon Smith, at
Tue Jan 18, 11:30:00 AM:
Sorry to use the vilified CBS as a source but...
"The 2003 [violent crime] figure translates to a rate of 475 violent crimes for every 100,000 Americans"
So the U.S. is more dangerous than Saddam era Iraq? Does this mean we'll be invading ourselves soon?
By 
, at
Tue Jan 18, 05:28:00 PM:
Not all violent crimes result in death
