posted March 10, 2006 10:59 AM            

I was not angry - but I did take offense to you insinuating that I would use a parable to either declare myself God or this country as a God. How you derived that from me using a parable is beyond me.

If I use a quote, like the ones attached to my signature, does that mean I am Winston Churchill (a wonderful saggie, but not so pleasing to the eyes) or Geronimo?

Anyway... I will admit that calling you thick-headed was not cool - you are pretty sharp .

AG... I have Mercury in Capricorn - Direct - Some Merc retros physically tear me up but for the most part I do okay (I have Virgo rising, so Mercury is also my chart ruler).

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Better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.
Andre Gide

"Lahn dádzaayú nahikai leh ni' nyelíí k'ehge," Goyathlay (Geronimo)

"Once we moved like the Wind"

posted March 10, 2006 06:57 PM              

quote:

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Anyway... I will admit that calling you thick-headed was not cool - you are pretty sharp .

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posted March 10, 2006 07:39 PM              

Lancet surveyed 1000 households and extrapolated the figures. They found that the risk of death increased 2.5 fold after the invasion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_conflict_in_Iraq_since_2003

I also read it off of http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6596

The US doesn't do Iraqi civilian body counts. There are groups who do body counts though. However this method isn't reliable either since they can't keep count of all the deaths.

And another study by the New England Journal of Medicine said the counts could be worse.

quote:

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One way to estimate the actual number of Iraqi enemy combatants killed is to consider the results of anonymous surveys of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq done in 2003 as part of a study on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) published in the New England Journal of Medicine [20]. In this study, 48% of the Army soldiers who had served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and 65% of the Marines said that they were responsible for the death of at least one enemy combatant.

Since at least 180,000 Army soldiers and 58,000 Marines served in Iraq in 2003, this means that a minimum of about 124,000 U.S. troops who returned from Iraq by the end of 2003 each believed they had caused the death of one or more enemy combatants. This would not include any deaths caused by Navy or Air Force personnel, such as those that resulted from the bombing missions during the invasion, nor would it include those killed since the beginning of 2004. However, this could reflect either more or less than 124,000 enemy combatants killed, as there are likely cases where one soldier felt responsible for the deaths of multiple Iraqis, where several soldiers each felt responsible for the death of the same person, and where soldiers were incorrect in their belief that anyone had died.

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PID, well you said I was sharp...is it my words?

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Edited. Here are stats and extra information from the studies I mentioned above:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/351/1/13/T2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_survey_of_mortality_before_and_after_the _2003_invasion_of_Iraq

posted March 10, 2006 09:59 PM            

Well, I haven't really felt like fighting a whole lot since Jwhop's been back this time, which is unusual. Normally he comes back spouting the same old nonsense, and I shut him down and he goes away. I haven't felt that urge so strongly this time. It could be that I know it's more entertaining around these parts when he's here. Not really sure.

Jwhop,

6 in 1000 are as smart or smarter than me, so your clear, logical Mercury in Virgo isn't altogether humbling toward my Merc in detriment in Sag. You wouldn't expect a Mercury in Sag to just bow before you now would you? http://www.freewebs.com/acousticgod/personalityiqreports.htm

posted March 11, 2006 09:17 AM              

Daydreamer, I think I understand what you're saying in your post. I just think the concept of "excess deaths", given the circumstances, is silly. War means death, lots of it. I'm being a stoic again, so please forgive.