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 would expect that number would go up if Sadams sons would have taken over and we did nothing over the next 20 years or so. Also we are changing hearts and minds of the young Iraq people. As long as the MSM and Murtha shut up and stop undoing the good we have done.
You can mention that we are restoring the wetlands to southern Iraq. We know they don't really care about the people - but WETLANDS(!!!!) - that's a different story!
Thanks both of you for your comments.
Wow, this is an old article... You mean people are actually checking out my home page, now... or catching onto Keyword Dangus?
Keep the church, get rid of the erstwhile pastor.
excellent!!!!Just sent it out to those I know...
Please put this in an email and send it to folks
It is what I have been thinking for a long time but here its backed up with facts
bump
The lefty media's not allowed to tell you that, though.
Great post.
Thanks. This is a VERY old post. I updated it with even better data here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1628061/posts
I guess I need to update my home page.
I sent the updated stuff out too
I think its good to remind folks of all this as there is so much dis info around
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