Life Is Hard...

Pacifying Iraq

Many arm-chair generals (and a few real one's) have argued that the situation in Iraq today calls for more troops. Specifically, that the extra troop presence would help us to stifle the ongoing sabotage and secure the borders in a more effective manner, etc. This is no doubt one of the many issues surrounding Iraq that will continue to be argued about for years to come.

Well I am not a general, nor have I been trained in the arts of war. But I do have some intelligence and a bit of common sense. So when I mentioned to my wiseacre friend that Iraq has a population of roughly 23 million, and he then quipped that we should have sent 46 million troops, one for each Iraqi and working 12 hour shifts, I realized that determining the proper number of troops for the occupation is yet another of those classic economic scenarios where the Law of Diminishing Returns must apply. The logistical nightmare of tripling Iraq's population via an occupation force is not a practical or reasonable approach to the problem.

So my clever idea was to compare the ratio of Coalition soldiers to Iraqi citizens versus the ratio of U.S. police officers to U.S. citizens. A quick search of the internet turned up the following:

U.S. Population: 293,000,000
U.S. Police Officers: 941,000
Ratio of police officers to residents: 1 to 311.

Iraqi Population: 23,000,000
Coalition Soldiers in Iraq: 150,000
Ratio of Coalition soldiers to Iraqis: 1 to 153.

Sources:
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/popclock
http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/polstruct.htm

Conclusions:
The comparison is instructive, but not necessarily definitive. Even though there are twice as many Coalition soldiers per Iraqi as there are police officers per U.S. resident, one has to admit that the United States is not an occupied nation. On the other hand, these ratios by themselves do not lend support to the arguments of the arm-chair generals.

What is clear is that there exists in Iraq today a formidable Coalition troop presence which should be more than capable of taking out insurgents... if the damnable politicians don't tie their hands.

Gore Won By 70,000 Votes

Once you account for dim bulb voters.

Fishy Dealings At The U.N.

More apparent witness-tampering:

The United Nations has sent a stern letter to an important witness in the Iraq oil-for-food investigation, demanding that he not cooperate with congressional probes of the scandal...

"The three words that best describe you are as follows and I quote:   Stink.   Stank.   Stunk!"

He Will Be Missed

Gilbert Cottrell, 1937-2004.

Ready Or Not, Here IOC Comes!

I remember when Greece was first chosen as the venue for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games , I read an article predicting big trouble. That must have been six years ago. (?) The premise of the author was that the socialist government of Greece just wasn't up to the challenge.

Fast forward to today: Boondoggles Galore! Well, they still have 100 days.