Saturday, November 15, 2003
By the Numbers
You know how media reports like to talk about "Allied forces" in Iraq? The phrase brings back memories of the noble worldwide alliance that crushed the Germans and the Japanese in World War II, but our coalition is a little more threadbare this time. The United States has 130,000 troops in Iraq. The second largest contingent is the British with 7400, then Italy with 3000, then Poland with 2400. The only countries providing more than 1,000 troops are Ukraine, Spain, and the Netherlands. The rest of the coalition includes such world leaders as Thailand (400), Hungary (290), Mongolia (174), and on down to Macedonia and Kazakhstan, who are providing about two dozen soldiers each. (And the rest of countries of the world, presumably because they are not with us, are against us.)
Another set of numbers worth looking at is the breakout of deaths in Iraq by state. ICH News asks if it's coincidence that the states with the most deaths are the states with the largest immigrant populations, but that doesn't necesssarily correlate--the state with the most deaths in California, followed by Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, and Illinois--all among the most populous states in the Union. You'd expect the most populous states to make up a larger proportion of the military, and thus have a larger proportion of the casualties.
You know how media reports like to talk about "Allied forces" in Iraq? The phrase brings back memories of the noble worldwide alliance that crushed the Germans and the Japanese in World War II, but our coalition is a little more threadbare this time. The United States has 130,000 troops in Iraq. The second largest contingent is the British with 7400, then Italy with 3000, then Poland with 2400. The only countries providing more than 1,000 troops are Ukraine, Spain, and the Netherlands. The rest of the coalition includes such world leaders as Thailand (400), Hungary (290), Mongolia (174), and on down to Macedonia and Kazakhstan, who are providing about two dozen soldiers each. (And the rest of countries of the world, presumably because they are not with us, are against us.)
Another set of numbers worth looking at is the breakout of deaths in Iraq by state. ICH News asks if it's coincidence that the states with the most deaths are the states with the largest immigrant populations, but that doesn't necesssarily correlate--the state with the most deaths in California, followed by Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, and Illinois--all among the most populous states in the Union. You'd expect the most populous states to make up a larger proportion of the military, and thus have a larger proportion of the casualties.
