On Meet the Press, NYTs' Brooks admitted to pulling number of possible Iraqi deaths "out of the air"

[NNN0LHI]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200707220001?f=h_latest

On the July 22 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, discussing the number of Iraqis that could be killed following a withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, New York Times columnist David Brooks asked "are we willing to prevent 10,000 Iraqi deaths a month at the cost of 125 Americans?" Brooks initially tried to attribute the "10,000" figure to New York Times Baghdad bureau chief John Burns and the National Intelligence Estimate, but later admitted, "I just picked out 10,000 out of the air."

Earlier in the program, host Tim Russert had quoted Burns, who said during the July 21 edition of PBS' Charlie Rose, "It seems to me incontrovertible that the most likely outcome of an American withdrawal anytime soon would be cataclysmic violence, and I find that to be widely agreed amongst Iraqis, including Iraqis who widely opposed the invasion and especially amongst Sunnis."

Later in the show, Brooks said: "Well if we leave, we could see 250,000 Iraqis die -- you had the John Burns quotation earlier in the program. So are we willing to prevent 10,000 Iraqi deaths a month at the cost of 125 Americans?" Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward challenged Brooks: "{T}he problem, though, is we don't know {what will happen in Iraq following a redeployment of U.S. troops}. People can say 'Oh, it's going to be a disaster,' I mean you've -- you cite numbers which are pulled out of the air -- '10,000 dying' -- I mean that's -- where does that come from?" When Brooks replied, "A, it comes from John Burns and, second, it comes from National Intelligence --" Woodward pointed out, "But {Burns} doesn't say 10,000."

In response, Brooks stated, "Well, no. No, but it talks about genocide, so I just picked out 10,000 out of the air. But the National Intelligence Estimate says that -- well, most people, as Burns reports, say it will get much, much worse. So that's the dilemma."

As Brooks acknowledged, neither Burns nor the NIE provided a numerical estimate.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. One Iraq dies every 10 minutes

and a US soldier dies every 10 hours.

I'm not even a reporter and I knew that!! Sheesh I am about over these dipshits who call themselves journalists.

[papau]

2. 600,000 Iragi's dead in about 1700 days is about 10,500 per month - what a lousy guess :-)

:-) that is a lot of dead - but since it is not all combat, some is just lack of health care, I guess it doesn't count :-( :-(

[TomInTib]

3. Isn't it already "cataclysmic violence"?

Go fuck the horse that * is afraid of, Brooks.

That smug bastard pisses me off every time I see him on my teevee.

When I cancel my sub to the NYT, it will be because of him.

[spag68]

4. It's funny

that these idiots think they can see the future. I've always wondered how they dream this crap up.