Can you 'splain this to me Lucy?

Could it be the press is <gasp> biased?

Chico..you know you made that up.  And if you didn't, your source isn't cited so some rightie must have made it up.

Heavens, it can' t possibly be true.  (snerk)   :-)

Actually I've been hearing that deaths are down and that the surge must have worked.  Chances are you won't hear that on most blogs or in the M media.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Government officials on Monday reported that 16,273 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police died violent deaths in 2006, a figure larger than an independent Associated Press count for the year by more than 2,500.
The tabulation by the Iraqi ministries of Health, Defense and Interior, showed that 14,298 civilians, 1,348 police and 627 soldiers were killed in the violence that raged in the country last year.
The Associated Press accounting, gleaned from daily news reports from Baghdad, arrived at a total of 13,738 deaths.

1. New York City - 1990
2. Washington, DC - 1991
3. Gary, IN - 2005
4. Detroit, MI - 1991
5. Compton, CA - 2005
6. New Orleans, LA - 2006
7. New Orleans, LA - 2004
8. New Orleans, LA - 2003
9. Atlanta, GA - 1973
10. E. St. Louis, IL - 2004

1. New York City - 1990; 30.7 (2,245 murders; population 7,322,000)
2. Washington, DC - 1991; 83.1 (482 murders; population 598,000 [1])
3. Gary, IN - 2005; 58.0
4. Detroit, MI - 1991; roughly 60
5. Compton, CA - 2005; 67.1
6. New Orleans, LA - 2006; 67.5 (154 murders; population 228,000 [2])
7. New Orleans, LA - 2004; 59.6 (275 murders; population 461,115 [3])
8. New Orleans, LA - 2003; 57.7
9. Atlanta, GA - 1973; 57.7 (271 murders; population 470,000 [1])
10. E. St. Louis, IL - 2004; 63.4

Does this mean Iraq is a walk in the park? Of course not.
Does this mean that Iraq is a hopeless quagmire that cannot be won? It would appear, at a minimum, that anyone who believes that carries a heavy burden of proof.
And to personalize it, dear reader, unless you've gone on record in favor of abandoning the residents of the cities listed above to their own devices at the times they were (or are) extremely dangerous places to be, it would seem that you have no basis for contending that we should do that to the people of Iraq.
Notes:
[1] - interpolated between reported decade-ending populations.
[2] - USAT article reports that New Orleans population is "about half of its pre-Katrina population of 455,000."
[3] - Population per US Census Bureau downloadable spreadsheet found at this link.
(Aside: Yes, I know I didn't excerpt the last paragraph about the UN claiming that "100 die each day." Give me a break -- The UN is winging it with no support. And besides, I thought AP, despite Jamil "Captain Tuttle" Hussein, is the gold standard in reporting. Dear reader, you wouldn't be getting cold feet about AP, would you?)
__________________________
UPDATE: Oh, you say that the deaths are concentrated in just a few areas in Iraq? Fine. That sounds like a concession that the large majority of the country is very safe (which is indeed the case), just as in most of the cities above, a majority of the neighborhoods are, with a couple of exceptions, considered safe.
So ..... what's your point again?
UPDATE 2: Here are the results shown graphically, with the AP's lower Iraq death rate of 47.7 per 100,000 thrown in for good measure {graph above}

(I didn't make it up)

Why, yes, Chico.  Just the other day a car bomb blew up in Los Angeles and wiped out an entire class of police cadets.  Oh, and armed troops patrol Oildale, blown up by random IED's.

.

Comparing the countries as a whole by population, the rate of violent death in Iraq is eleven times greater than in the US.  Let's see some comparison between Washington, DC and Baghdad, shall we?    Oh, the rate in Bagdhad is *EIGHT TIMES HIGHER*, but that's safer than the country as a whole.  So those "safe areas" you're touting?  They seem more dangerous than the armed-camp-which-is-Bagdhad.

.

Want to know what Iraq is like?  Remember last week when five people were killed, a billion dollars of damage done and a million people displaced from their homes by brushfires?  *THAT'S* Iraq.  

Every.

Single

Day.

.

But I'm glad you've taken an interest in the murder rate here, Chico.  I've got this handgun-control petition you can sign if you're truly concerned.  It doesn't do much good to ban them in Washington if just across the border any idiot can get one.

Random, can you answer Oenghus please?

I think his question goes to the "quick" of your (and Mattloch, anti, GotrR, etc.) arguments vis-a-vis "truth"

Please answer

(somehow I'm thinking oenghus is tapping into the "spinal fluid" here

(remember, those of use who went through SERE and got "water boarded"........ are we worse than the terrorists who want to kill you? To some of you I think we are....................)

oenghus is an sf bud?

beginning to think this dude holds his mud like an sf dude.

bet he could give class #, etc. where he got water boarded

Ted Kennedy is a spoiled sh*thead

So are you libs

Wait until you gotta go through what we did...............

I finally figured oenghus is a "got yer back" sf dude................. I can just tell............

Look at TF 121 he was assinged to. he actually created.

RF you are over your head with this dude.

Hell, I am  too............ he saved our asses in nam.

primary mission is the apprehension of "High Value Targets" or HVTs: key figures in organizations involved in the War on Terror, such as Osama bin Laden, Mullah Mohammed Omar and other senior leaders of Al Qaeda, Taliban and high ranking officials of the former Iraqi Regime.

The task force has been organized in such a way that it has a close relationship with intelligence personnel (CIA operators are an integral part of the unit) and has timely and unhindered access to any relevant data gathered by intelligence assets in the area. Such an option is invaluable to any Special Operations team, and especially so to one whose primary mission is hunting elusive fugitives whose hideouts change frequently and randomly.

Many TF121 groups are assigned Special Forces CIRA (Communications Intelligence Reconnaissance and Action) operators with expertise in relevant fields. These operators work closely with the intelligence agencies tied to TF121 and work to pinpoint and identify HVTs aggressively.

Despite problems that often plague combined-services task forces, it appears that TF121 has managed to attain some of their most high-profile objectives. On July 21st, 2003, Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay were killed in a firefight with TF20 operators and soldiers from 101st Airborne. On the 13th of December, 2003, Operation Red Dawn netted HVT #1, Saddam Hussein himself after a highly successful raid where rapid intelligence flow and decisiveness won the day. Within hours of intelligence narrowing down the target to two possible locations, TF121 was able to coordinate the raid with 600 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division's 1st Brigade combat team. (see Saddam Hussein's capture).

But argue with him RAndom............... he is one of "us"

But go ahead............. He;s BTDT BTW and FTR.......................

I could never ignore you essa

you are "ignorable"

in that you are a woman no. 1 and older no. no. 2 and have suffered no. 3

I have as well

Our guys do "waterboarding" in SERE

Why does that make me not able to talk abolut it?

I suspect oenghus is a fellow sf dude who has gone through more than any of us want to imagine

Does that make us a "bully" when we point that out?

I think the American people need to know what we went through and are going through right now.

Our hero's are all of our hero's

Trust me Sage ----- and you are a tough old lady

If oenghus is who I think he is

We can all rest assured he is "out there" looking out  for us!

BTW Sage, oengus has done things for us you and I could not even imagine

Sykes-Fairburn esse

I've kinda figured out this dude now

He is half breed sumbtich lkke me I expect

He kills wannabes like Kerry, he protected some of us in Plieku, he is a man you don't wanna cross

but you want for a bud............. We flesh out an Elk as easy as a steer............ Diff is........... one is trophy for us......... but for him it is always food............. he is one hell of a sumbitch........... can look at you on minute,...........your're dead the next/.............

Since I really am pretty much unfamiliar with thew various personalities here, I just sort of roll in to observe and every once in a while if there is a topic under discussion about which I happen to know a little something, drop a comment or two.

There are some interesting people here, along with a few totally UNinteresting ones.

The few "brain droppings" you have left

Give me hope

for our next generation

There is something way down deep your postings, that I wish someone here would take you ona

There is something deep down in your character that tells me

this sumbitch knows something I think the regular peope need to know...............