Hm, there can be a kind of praise that makes me want not to have posted at all.

I'm a conscientious objector and proud of it. I guess that my political position is much closer to (Kevin) McGrath's than that of many posters here. But I'm a man who loves numbers and statistics and hates careless use of them.

For most people it may be correct to assume that when they attack an argument for a position they do not share that position. This is not true for me.

There is a lot more to say about the trend in percentage of civilians killed, why and when it went up, why the trend has reversed since a few years for some types of wars but not for civil wars, why the trend over a century in civil wars has more to do with the methods of counting used than with a real change in the percentage, but I think I rather shouldn't here.

At least I know now, what task my students in next Monday's methodology class will have to work on:

There's a big increase in the percentage of US soldiers killed by friedly fire from WWII to the Gulf War. Find at least one interpretation for this trend.

I hope some like it.

Wolfgang