Professorial Innumeracy

James Joyner | Friday, February 25, 2005

John Cole points out a particularly uninformed comment by Juan Cole:

AP reports that the one-day total for war-related violence in Iraq, including the police station bombing in Tikrit reported here yesterday morning, came to 30. That is about 11,000 persons a year if the rate were constant and extrapolated out.

John offers a couple of examples demonstrating the innumeracy of this logic, including:

Close to 3,000 people were killed on September 11th. That is over a million people a year if the rate remains constant and extrapolated out.

Indeed.

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

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Except that, last I heard, 9/11 was a rather singular incident. Car bombings, suicide bombings, roadside bombs, shootings, etc. are rather more common in Iraq.

Posted by Barry | February 25, 2005 | 09:20 pm | Permalink

 

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