Unbiased facts and numbers on the conflict in Iraq

[johnjohn320]

I tried to post this late last night, but I was tired and out-of-it, I couldn't get my question across. Let me try this again:

OK, I have to write an opinion piece on my stance on the War in Iraq. The words straight from my teacher are: "The War in Iraq: Was it worth it?" I know that sounds like a strange way to ask the question, but that's the way he asked it. Anyway, I'm happy to be doing this paper, for once I get to explore the issues of today and express my opinion.

However, doing a research paper on it is proving more difficult than expected. There are no books out on this yet obviously, so this limits my sources for info to magazines, internet, other news sources. Problem is, I'm having a whole heck of a lot of trouble finding accurate, unbiased, facts and numbers and on this war. All I can find is "Iraq was a great idea and here's some numbers to prove it" and "Iraq was a bad idea and here's some completely different numbers representing the same things to prove it."

Argh! I don't want people's opinions. I want the cold, hard facts, and everything I find is just either has ridiculously conservative estimates or ludicrously liberal estimates.

I want to find :

How much the war has cost the US so far monetarily (I know there's another $87 Billion pending right now)
US Soldier Deaths
Iraqi Civilian Deaths
The violations of the UN Security Resolution (is that right?) by Saddam Hussein to start this whole mess.
Unbiased facts about the WMDs-why we thought they had them, why we can't find them.
Other possible (peaceful) solutions that could have occurred (I'm thinking of Saddam's ignored attempts to debate Bush about the situation).

I'm not asking anyone to do my homework for me, but time's running out and I just don't know where I can find this stuff. I've looked through BBC and other news archives, etc, but I can't really find general things like this, all I can find is really specific stuff ("2 US Soldiers killed today, etc") or vague stuff ("Saddam's violations of the Security Resolution", no idea what what the violations actually are).

Any help? Thanks so much!

EDIT-the other problem is that once you find numbers, they're outdated. You discover that the report you're reading was done in February or something, and it's been long enough since then that I'm sure the numbers are much different now.

 

[AndrewR]

The facts you need to include are the numbers of murders committed by Saddam's regime, the number of Kurds gassed by Chemical Ali, the number of Shiites slaughtered during the early '90s, the number of Kuwaitis who disappeared after the Iraqi occupation and are still not accounted for, and the number of political prisoners or other prisoners tortured and then released.

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
The facts you need to include are the numbers of murders committed by Saddam's regime, the number of Kurds gassed by Chemical Ali, the number of Shiites slaughtered during the early '90s, the number of Kuwaitis who disappeared after the Iraqi occupation and are still not accounted for, and the number of political prisoners or other prisoners tortured and then released.

Hmm...and where do you stand on the subject? Yeah, I know I need to cover that stuff, too. But I can find that stuff. The stuff I posted originally is what I can NOT find...that's where I'm asking for help.

 

[Broohaha]

www.iraqbodycount.net for a count of iraqi civilian casualties -- but note that it's run by a bunch of hippies whose motives and credibility are very much in question

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/iraq/front.htm has a very good recap of the war.


total # killed: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/

another biased but useful site: http://www.antiwar.com/ewens/casualties.html

 

[Mill]

You are not going to find any unbiased facts. Pick the numbers that look the most credible to you and use them. Why exactly does this teacher want you to do a paper on Iraq? Is he doing it for political reasons>

 

[Mean MrMustard]

Originally posted by: Millennium
You are not going to find any unbiased facts. Pick the numbers that look the most credible to you and use them. Why exactly does this teacher want you to do a paper on Iraq? Is he doing it for political reasons>

If they're facts, how are they biased? They are facts. Opinions are biased; facts are not.

Yes, if the numbers look good to you, use them?! Yes, nevermind where you got them from because you're a better expert then they are.

Millennium, why don't you tell him to just go ask the Administration about what they think of the war? That should be sufficient shouldn't it? Wait a minute, don't ask questions you may be unpatriotic.