Some interesting reading as George Bush prepares to deliver his State of the Union address…
Some of these stats are quite scary, but some will argue stats can be twisted to prove just about anything.
232: Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 and January 2004
501: Number of American servicemen to die in Iraq from the beginning of the war – so far
0: Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the Allies in May 1945
0: Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed
[…]
10 million: Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, setting an all-time record for simultaneous protest
[…]
92%: Percentage of Iraq’s urban areas that had access to drinkable water a year ago
60%: Percentage of Iraq’s urban areas that have access to drinkable water today
[…]
45%: Percentage of Americans who believed in early March 2003 that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks on the US
$127 billion: Amount of US budget surplus in the year that Bush became President in 2001
$374 billion: Amount of US budget deficit in the fiscal year for 2003
[…]
$113 million: Total sum raised by the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, setting a record in American electoral history
$130 million: Amount raised for Bush’s re-election campaign so far
$200m: Amount that the Bush-Cheney campaign is expected to raise in 2004
$40m: Amount that Howard Dean, the top fund-raiser among the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls, amassed in 2003
[…]
90%: Percentage of American citizens who said they approved of the way George Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 26 September, 2001
53%: Percentage of American citizens who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 16 January, 2004
That last one is the scariest of all, over half the American population still think he’s doing a good job. If he get’s re-elcted then place your bets for the next stop on the GWB “Freedon For My People” World Tour™ as well as more civil liberites being stripped at home.