Trouble By the Numbers

A couple of days ago, I learned two new things about Iraq.

One, I learned my much-loved grandson had received the call to go toBaghdad in July, to help save America from someone hiding in a cave in Afghanistan.

Then I read that the U.N. estimates the Iraqi death toll for the first eleven months of 2006 was 34,452. There are two interesting things about this number. First, they didn't estimate "approximately 34,000." They said 34,452. Hard not to believe a number derived with such precision. The other interesting thing to note is that the total population of Iraq is about one-eleventh the population of the USA. So, if the same calamity was happening here in our country, on a per-capita basis we would have lost about 380,000 Americans to terrorism last year. It's figures like that which drive home the enormity of the catastrophe we unleashed on these people.

The Camel – Weapon of Destructive Mass

In a recent military convoy briefing in Iraq, Colonel Peterson advised, “On the open highway we will try to maintain 60 mph. In urban areas we will slow to 10-20 mph. But, watch out for camels in the road!" (Road to Baghdad) He didn’t explain why, so I shall proceed to do so now.

A dromedary camel (a one-humper) weighs over 1500 pounds. They stand six feet tall at the shoulder and their skinny little legs are about three feet long. That places the center of gravity of the three/quarter ton animal at about 4-1/2 feet off the ground.

Drivers of many vehicles travel with their head at about this level, where a collision would undoubtedly leave it, embedded in fresh camel meat.

Personal note: One blistering hot day in Kuwait, I crested a rise in the road (at considerably more than Colonel Peterson’s 60 mph), and saw a camel dead ahead. With no chance to stop or even slow, I threaded my car between camel and ditch with inches to spare. I ended up a quivering mass of jelly. The camel threw me a dismissive, “hmmph.” and strolled on.