Posted on 10/12/2005 7:52:17 PM PDT by dangus
My lefty pastor and all those social-justice types are always so concerned about the "devestating effects of the war" on Iraqis. All those poor innocent people getting killed! But is the war really creating more death and destruction?
There's no arguing with a liberal; I've learned that long ago. Saddam Hussein starved hundreds of thousands of his own people, but my lefty pastor always blames it on the sanctions. Well, while the Saddamites were living it up in the sort of preposterous luxury which would embarrass a media mogul, laundering food aid for cash and weapons, those poor people weren't dying from simple neglect. Saddam Hussein cut off their water supply.
Long after the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow past Baghdad, they reach the Marsh Arabs. As Shiites, Saddam never trusted them, and frequently bombed them, until we established the no-fly zone. But although Saddam couldn't bomb them, he could cut off their water. This wasn't because water was being diverted for Baghdad; the excess water was flowing straight into the Gulf, while millions went thirsty. An entire civilization came to rely on irrigating the river, but could not do so anymore. (Actually, this sort of war crime may have been precisely what triggered many of the events of Genesis!)
But if you try to tell a lefty about all those whom Saddam killed, they'll always just talk about the war dead.
Not that they'll believe you (these stats come via the CIA!), but just so you'll know, here are some interesting facts:
In 2000, Iraq had a death rate of 6.4 per thousand. Last year, the death rate was 5.66 per thousand. Multiply those numbers by the population of Iraq, and you will find that 24,000 fewer people died in 2004 than in 2000. And no, there was no surge at the start of the war; in fact, the death rate has been progressing downward each year since the start of the war.
Even if no further improvements in the death rate occur (and I can't imagine that), that would mean that the war will save 24,000 lives per year. Or, to put it another way, the life expectancy has increased more than 2 years (2.17).
But what about the quality of life?
You'll frequently hear that electrical consumption (a crude measure of economic activity) is barely up to what it was "before the war." Well, that's true, but misleading. In 2001, electrical consumption surged almost a third in a single year, 31.9%. The economy certainly didn't grow that much. Wouldn't you want to know what all that electricity was used for? Well, now that the US is in Iraq, electrical consumption is still higher than that. And it's being used for civilian purposes. So electrical production is up more than a third since 1999.
Oh, the children! What about the children?! Lefties love using infant mortality rates as a measure of a society's well-being. Well, guess what. The infant mortality rate is down 20%.
The inflation rate is another thing which causes hardship. Overall, since GDP measurements are adjusted for inflation, it doesn't mean an economic contraction. But it does mean a shift of money that can hurt the middle class. The inflation rate fell from 135% to 25%. Not bad.
Lastly, there's the economy, the GDP itself. It had bounced around for several year between $57 and $59 billion. In 2003, due to the war, it shrank to $39 billion. (Don't forget that gross DOMESTIC product does not include what the US provides or produces, or economic aid.) Last year, though, it bounced all the way back up to $54.4 billion, almost what it was during the Clinton years, a growth of over 53%. What will it do this year?
I'd get a new church
good post
Although the numbers are very hard to quantify, there can be little doubt that the incidence of rape, torture, and political imprisonment has gone from quite a lot to almost nil. The left loves Castro, one of the most brutal of the world leaders. Certainly, they can find room in their hearts for the avuncular Saddam.
Thank you for this post! bump!
Can't. I'm a Catlick. Our motto: "But where shall we go, Lord, for you have the words of eternal life." Sigh. I could switch parishes, but I believe I should bloom where I'm planted. There's enough conservatives at the other parish; my parish needs an opposing point of view. 0:^D>+
I forget but wasn't Amnesty Inernational claiming that sanctions starved 100,000 Iraqi children to death each year?
Yeah, I know a lefty pastor myself that's part of the family (what a fool, sorry to say), needless to say I do NOT attend his church.
Iraqi manufacturing and science/medical R&D haven't even begun to blossom yet. The roots and sprouts are there. When all the parts of the chain are smooth then the economy is gonna fly!
Excellent post! Thank you!
Thank you. For additional commentary, visit my user page:
http://www.freerepublic.com/~dangus/
and why if the US had not supported Saddam and the war on Iran... nor sold WDMs to the so called tyran???
CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL: (10/13) VIDEO: Why We Fight
http://www.house.gov/paul/
founding fathers were right: DO BUSINESS WITH ALL, POLITICAL ENTANGLMENT WITH NONE...
and the day every country will apply this advice, the world will start being a better place.
INTERVENTIONISM DOES NoT WORK BECAUSE OF THE INTEREST NATURE OF MAN. IT ALWAYS FAILS BUT PEOPLE WHO DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY WILL LEAN TOWARD MORE INTERVENTION AS A RESULT. INTERVENTIONISM IS THE ROAD TOWARD GLOBAL DICTATORSHIP... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Listen to Ron paul before it is tooooooo LATE.
Yes, and I read where they found stockpiles of vaccines in warehouses that were kept from the people. What a monster.
TELL THIS TO THE FRENCH OF WORLD WAR II
So using your logic: If I supported a friend in his effort to ward off his neighbor and defend himself, and later find out my so called friend was using my support to abuse his children, I should just sit back and say, Oops. my bad?
I do think it would be more prudent to not only stop my support of my now ex-friend, but also intervene for the children. But hey, thats just my way of trying to right a wrong, even if it was my own wrong.
*Bookmarks this thread.*
Bump.
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