[warning: the following is fairly macabre]
I’m trying to get my head round the death toll in Iraq. I don’t know what the latest estimates are (some past ones are collected [here](http://www.iraqanalysis.org/info/93), but it’s clear that we’re well over the 100,000 that the Lancet [guessed](http://www.jhsph.edu/Refugee/Front%20Page%20News/Document%20Links/Mortality_Lancet%20final.pdf) back in October 2004. Compare that to [this collection of 20th century death tolls](http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstats.htm) , and you’ll see Iraq is in the running as a serious catastrophe on historical scales. It’s caused more than [these wars and atrocities](http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat4.htm) (e.g. the Boxer rebellion), and is comihng close to [some of these](http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat3.htm) (e.g. the Lebanese Civil War). Worse, it feels like we’re only getting started.