Susu's Hubby: Both sites listed that only 15000-20000 of the dead were actually Iraqi CIVILIANS.

Well, even if we were to take your numbers as fact, I'd note that this is over five times the number killed in the 9/11 attacks, in a country less than one fifth the size of the U.S. Which means that Iraq has suffered more that 25 times the devastation of an event that some people call the transforming event in the history of the United States, the date after which nothing ever will ever be the same.

I'd note that since Iraq has been damaged in more ways than simply casualties, it is suffering (i.e. WRT infrastructure, economy, medical resources, etc.) even more than that proportion.

The exact numbers don't matter too much. And we may never know them (in part because the U.S. refuses to even try and count them ... but rest assured that Iraqi families know when their loved ones have died). But it's hard to dispute that what the Iraqis have seen in the last two years has been carnage of enormous proportions.

Do you realyl want to belittle that?

Cheers,