Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the number of Iraqi deaths by suicide bombers, car bombs, gunfire and executions has fallen from a peak of 72 per day to just 9.6 a day this year. That corresponds to just 11.2 per 100,000 population per year.
If we call that the murder rate (and it's
probably pretty close), see how well Iraq stacks up:
Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_08.pdf
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/law_enforcement_courts_prisons/crimes_and_crime_rates.html
Heck, if Thailand gets any more dangerous, I'll head to Iraq for safety. Well done George W Bush and Obama. You guys are terrific.
Still, it gets me thinking that if the US had spent $3 trillion on New Orleans instead of Iraq -- $26.5 million per family instead of $0.6 million per Iraqi family -- it could have reduced the murder rate there slightly, as well as turning it into a show case city. A hard sell politically of course. They'd have to get the Congressional Budget Office to forecast a budget of just $20 billion a year and then watch it blow out 30-fold!
It worked for the war, it will probably work for health care, so why not for the poor souls in New Orleans.
Realistically, though they are probably
better at helping
to reduce Afghan civilian casualties.
Cheers,
