Another nightmarish day in Baghdad. 160 dead, says one report. I wonder how many Iraqis will find solace in yesterday's bout of number-crunching over at Power Line?
If 3,709 people were murdered in October, that translates to a rate of 171 per 100,000. That is a high rate of violent death. But, for purposes of comparison, the murder rate in Washington, D.C. in 1991 was 80 per 100,000. So the rate of violence in Iraq today is just over double the rate in the District during the first Bush administration. I don't recall anyone describing conditions in Washington in the early 90s as a "bloodbath."
Reassured? I thought not.