It was many months back that people were saying that the Iraqi civilian casualties numbered in excess of 100,000, and Bush claimed that this was a gross exaggeration, that it was more like 30,000. Even if either of those figures were close to reality, there has been a whole lot of killing since then. According to a number of reports (few of which have made the main-stream media) from people who have been there, the violence has accelerated hugely within recent months and there is a full-blown civil war going on. Last I heard (within the last day or two), Bush is still holding to the 30,000 figure.

Although it wasn't about casualties specifically, I recently heard an interview with Rajiv Chandrasekaran that was most revealing and informative. Rajiv Chandrasekaran is an assistant managing editor of The Washington Post, and he served terms as the Post's bureau chief in Baghdad, Cairo, and Southeast Asia, and as a correspondent covering the war in Afghanistan. He recently completed a term as journalist-in-residence at the International Reporting Project at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. The interview touched on the matter of casualties, but it mostly centered around the subject of his book, which has recently been released:   Imperial Life in the Emerald City : Inside Iraq's Green Zone. He saw first hand and close up the incredible, mind-boggling, forehead-smacking ineptitude of the people Bush has sent to Iraq to "liberate" the country and teach them "democracy." If you check the link, then scroll down to the Editorial Reviews, you'll get a pretty good idea of the thrust of the book, and what Chandrasekaran talked about in the interview.

No, indeed! Not in my name!

Don Firth