Here's a fun comparison

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

Next time some wing-nut repeats the conservative talking point that "there is no civil war in Iraq," toss out these statistics...

Total Iraqis KIA in Iraq last year (from Iraq Coalition Casualties): 9,769

Total soldiers killed at 2nd Bull Run: 3,300
Total soldiers killed at Shiloh: 3,483
Total soldiers killed at Antietam: 3,650

You'd have to combine three major battles of the Civil War into to generate the number of casualties generated in Iraq last year.

Nope. No Civil Wars going on here. Hey, isn't "Dancing with the Stars" on?

[SheilaT]

1. Well, there's something of a difference

between battles which took place over a period of a day or three and killings over a period of a year. So far the Sunnis and the Shiites have not organized formal armies and started fighting the kind of set battles that we think of as civil war. It may well be coming. but I suspect the "insurgency" will continue very much as it has, with bombings and kidnappings and killings on a smaller scale. The real problem will be that neither side has a formal leadership in place that can actually negotiate an end to what's happening.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

2. But I'm pretty sure they're still dead...

Don't count on pitched battles and waving flags (or fifes and drums). This is Civil War for the New Millenium. And we can proudly say that it all started because of our misguiged foreign policy.

[SheilaT]

3. The real sad thing is that I'm the only one

who bothered to respond to your posting. Even I (who tend to kill threads all the time) thought that a few more people would have wanted to comment. Maybe between the two of is we said it all?
:shrug: