Inconvenient deaths

The Lancet, the premiere medical journal in Britain, publishes a study by a statistician at Johns Hopkins University, one of the best-respected medical schools in the U.S., which estimates the number of Iraqi deaths resulting from Bush's fraudulent and botched invasion of that country at 655,000 (give or take a few hundred thousand).

Allow me to repeat: 655,000. That's six hundred and fifty five thousand. Just a couple of wedding parties shy of two thirds of a million people. (Hey, there's a benchmark that Bush might actually be able to achieve in time for the November election!)

It's just slightly less than the total population of Memphis, Tennessee, and slightly more than the total population of Baltimore, Maryland. Or perhaps Mr. Bush would have a clearer comprehension of the number if he mentally compared it to the population of Austin, Texas, which is approximately 690,000 according to this list.

655,000 people is approximately 200 times the death toll for the September 11th attacks... which is totally irrelevant, when you think about it, since everyone except the Bush Administration's most mindless followers has now acknowledged the fact that Iraq had nothing to do with that attack.

What is The Decider's response to this information about the number of human lives sacrificed in fire, blood, torture, and agony?

Denial, of course. "I don't consider it a credible report." And so the illusion is perpetuated. Because the only "credible" information sources are those which say what the Bush Administration finds it politically useful for them to say.

George W. Bush. Credibility. Write your own punch line.