The Sum of All Fears.......

Today's publication of the Lancet's report totalling the number of violent deaths in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, inevitably divides and jolts opinion as pretty much anything else relating to the "I" word does these days. Regardless of which side of the argument you fall, these figures are pretty shocking. Estimates of total deaths vary from Bush's conservative 30,000 earlier this year, which would probably be revised upwards to nearer 40,000 regardless of how opaque his bubble is; to the 48,000 cited on Iraqbody count; to wider anti war campaigner's estimates hitting the 200,000 mark; and finally the Lancet's 655,000 figure. Numbers never describe the full picture, but since on the ground narrative cannot paint the full picture beyond reports through high risk journalism; repetitive photos showing burnt out cars and blood stained concrete; or simple old fashioned fraternal embedding; we are forced into this numerical irrelevance. Add / subtract a zero, it really doesn't matter sadly; neither 2,973 (the same as 9/11) nor the Lancet's latest total creates any cause for happiness. These figures, shocking as they are, pale in comparison to history's wars, the 62 million who died in WWII is an almost unimaginable number. Would it be possible to record 62 million individual stories of pain, tradegy and death. No. Just in the same way as it wouldn't be possible to pay testimony to 655,000 either. It is this side of war numbers that is the most painful for history, life's insignificance and history's inability to record the memory of those who perished. Journalists and historians will try and focus on numerous key individuals but history is not able to treat all with equality.

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/war-1900.htm