Letters to the Editor
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RE: MATH
Indeed. And anyone who wants to know more about the study should listen to the episode of This American Life: What's in a Number? (2006 Edition). It describes the study (and the one that preceded it earlier in the war), talks to the study's author & earlier critics. And most importantly it describes the absolute dedication to randomness the study undertook, and all the factors that make it really difficult to doubt the conclusions of the study.
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Nicely said ...
... Other letter writers have suggested there is no connection between Iraq and Virginia Tech, but I call bullsh** on that. The 178 people slaughtered in Iraq were just as human as the 33 killed at VT. The connection is that every life lost, or taken, in Iraq or at VT, belongs to someone's father or mother, brother or sister, son or daughter. There is no political connection, or geographical connection, or ideological connection ... there is simply a human connection, one that makes each life lost in Iraq as valuable as each life lost anywhere else. The connection is simply that suicide bombings in Iraq kill a lot of innocent people and one guilty one, and the carnage at VT left 32 innocent corpses, and one guilty one ... its a different weapon, and maybe a different specific "rationale" but the end result sure looks awfully similar.
Its a valid question ... thanks for asking it.
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Good point Tim
Keep in mind that there are only 25 million Iraqis, vs. about 330 million Americans, so 650,000 Iraqis is equivalent to, um, 8 million Americans or thereabouts...
Unless we impeach and imprison Bush and all his cohorts, including probably everyone who voted for him, we're all going to hell.
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One other thing
SO Tiberius, transparent utter hatred of Bush is a bad thing because? If you can give me one good reason not to hate Bush, I would be willing to give it a try...in the meantime I'm proud of it and I think it indicates superior moral character.
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Baghdad, Stability in Iraq is achievable.
I believe the region can be stabilized if Iraq were reformed similar to Korea; for example North Korea, and South Korea. If Iraq were divided into two equal balanced regions, one with a Sunni government, and the other Shiite government, with the countries resources evenly split, there could be final stability within this country. Sunni's and Shiites live together in cities within Iraq today. With an arrangement of this kind, the Sunni clergy/political heads will have there government, and political say over there own territories, and there will be no need for the terrorism strikes that are occurring so regularly.
First of all, I think its important to realize that each clerical faction has a goal. A diplomatic person that is not influenced by either side, nor detested by either side should ask the clergy what it is that they most desire out of the conflict. For this negotiation I would bring in a U.N. member of the west, but not one that is viewed as a puppet of the U.S.
Their differences are to great to mash them together into one government, but giving the leaders an ear, and giving them their own region is acceptable. They want full control over their own government. The solution is not forcing our application or view of what we think they should have...its a different culture, but I believe you will find the land will stabilize once you actually "listen" to the voices behind the violent protests (car bombings etc). They want a piece of the pie.. is that such a terrible thought?
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From Blacksburg to Baghdad
Tom:
You've raised a point that I'm unaware any other pundit has dared to make - how can the US media devote literally all of their air time over the past two days to the Blacksburg killings while, during the same news reports, limit their commentary on the deaths of hundreds of Iraqi citizens to one or two sentences? How in the world can anyone not feel the same abhorance to the deaths in Iraq as they do towards the deaths of the innocent students in Blacksburg?
None of this makes any rational sense to me.
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for every action
there is an equal and opposite reaction, however hidden from the eyes of most americans.
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RE: RE: MATH
It's funny, but until this administration, no one questioned this kind of study, or the accuracy of exit polls. These studies are standard for counting the civilian casualties in a war, the only thing that detracted at all from this one initially (the first time) was the difficulty of getting the sample random and evenly distributed throughout Iraq, which the authors seemed to have done well. On the exit polls, they have been used since international monitors first started to test the fairness of elections -- unlike public opinion polls, they have accuracies to +/- less than a percent.
All of a sudden, when fact needs to be fiction, or fiction fact, suddenly people conducting standard surveys and polls from reputable institutions mysteriously get them wrong?
Believe that and I have a meeting in Prague you ought to attend.
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VTUs
Thanks, Tim. I made a similar point Monday morning on my blog, http://skank.tanglebones.com/2007/04/16/vtus/ and at Daily Kos. The response at DK was strongly negative with accusations of my being a troll, accusations of insensitivity, and denunciations of politicizing the VTU slayings. I was told that now is not the time for such concerns. We should focus only on VTU and its grief. I finally just deleted my diary for the day.
But for those who believe it's inappropriate now to connect VTU with Iraq, when will it be time to discuss the complete dehumanization of Iraqi citizens? When will it be time to note that Iraqis actually experience grief when their loved ones are slaughtered? When will it be time for the Bush administration to take responsibility for unleashing unthinkable violence upon the people in Iraq?
For loyal Bushies the answer to these questions is, "Never."
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A new unit
I suggest that henceforth ALL reports of Iraqi deaths note how many "Virginia Techs" the casualty count in question is; yesterday for example would be about six Virginia Techs. Unlike the "Friedman Unit" (a/k/a six months) which merely illustrates the obstinate pomposity of the mustachioed one, the "Virginia Tech" unit might - just might - have the salutatory effect of making people realize that thirty-something dead Iraqis is not a sterile statistic, but a tragic loss of human - yes, human - life. Not to mention the 111 or so Virginia Tech Units of U.S. casualties in Iraq so far.