It is just as valid to tally up all of Saddam's atrocities and average them out over his regime as it is for Donald the Deathwatch Beetle to tally up low and high American casualty periods and average them out to American deaths per day.

And when you can tally up Saddam's "atrocities" with the same degree of certitude as American deaths in Iraq can be tallied, perhaps your conclusions won't be laughable.

The fact that UML Guy uses U.S. State Department estimates for his computions would be enough to cast doubt upon his conclusions, but his using the highest figure from each estimate to reach his total of 1.26 million means the 138 per day figure is ridiculously speculative.

1,070,000 deaths





The 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war left 150,000 to 340,000 Iraqis and 450,000 to 730,000 Iranians dead.

60,000 deaths

Directed the 1991 bloody suppression of Kurdish and Shi'a insurgencies in northern and southern Iraq with at least 30,000 to 60,000 killed.

100,000 deaths

The campaign resulted in the death of at least 50,000 to 100,000 Iraqi Kurds, according to Human Rights Watch reports.



The averaging of American deaths is based on hard numbers, not estimates. Anyone who thinks a number reached by averaging the highest figures from estimates is "just as valid" as a number reached using averaging based on hard numbers should join Britt Hume in the Moron Hall of Fame.

And let's not forget the U.S. helped Saddam kill some of those "450,000 to 730,000" Iranians. "We ousted Saddam so he wouldn't kill hundreds of thousands like we helped him kill before" is a morally dubious claim at best.