Ake,

In the last three years, over 300,000 American soldiers have been cycled through Iraq. Fewer the 100 of them have been accused of serious wrong-doing.

These young men come from a country, the United States, where at least 1 in every 300 men is in prison for violent crime. They appear to be about 1/10 as likely to act-out their aggressions in the military as the would have in civilian life. You cannot expect perfect behavior from our military until the pool of people from which it is drawn is perfect. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

The daily body count from Saddam's 24 years of violence was 159 dead per day. Although some of those were Iranian, most were his own Iraqui citizens. Thanks to coalition efforts, the Iraqui body count is about 27 per day. That number could be reduced to zero if insurgents would stop the bombing and shooting and go home. Again, don't hold you breath waitin for that to happen.