Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

The same report but different spin. The Times Online have an article by Richard Beeston in Baghdad headed Iraqis soldier on without power, water, jobs, sewers
“This survey…. for the UN Development Programme…released by the Ministry of Planning….shows a rather tragic situation of the quality of life in Iraq,” Planning Minister Barham Salih said. “These statistics reflect the contrast between the wealth of this country and the deteriorating level of all vital sectors.”
The report said that unemployment was now more than 18 per cent, compared with just over 3 per cent in the 1980s.
Meanwhile, in the Courier Mail, Omar Anwar, reporting from Baghdad quotes a survey, conducted by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning and the United Nations Development Program….
Unemployment is running at 50 per cent, the survey found, raising questions over whether a growing number of young Iraqi men will join the rebels.
His article is headed “Despite its wealth, Iraq falls apart” Over at CNN, a report quoting the same joint survey from the Iraqi government and United Nations, take a more positive view;
While there has been progress since Saddam Hussein’s fall, “these data depict a very tragic picture of the quality of life,” Iraqi transitional Planning Minister Barham Salih said.
and have a different take on the stats,
Iraq’s unemployment rate was 10.5 percent of a population of 27 million people, the report found. When the figure of workers who had given up looking for a job — discouraged workers — was included, the unemployment number increased to 18.4 percent.
I think the only thing we can be sure of is Iraq has an unemployment problem, the magnitude of which varies with the journalist’s or Editor’s politics. The Left will be devastated to read that the much quoted Lancet report that totaled 100,000 dead as a result of the war has been downsized to less than 30,000 by the UN report. This won’t stop them quoting the 100,000 figure though. Ten bucks says it’ll be used in some letter to the Editor next week. 30,000 dead is still a bad number but not if the vast majority were terrorists supporting Saddam during the early stages of the war or fighting against democracy in more recent times. The CNN take on the deaths says 12% were under 18 but perception between East and West is very stark when considering the ages of man. The mothers in downtown Sydney, London or New York will think …Oh my God..they’re just children. In Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Palestine and Syria mothers will still be weeping over their lost children but the photos they cry over will, more often than not, show their young son with an AK47 in his hands. From the Eastern extremities of Afhanistan to a line drawn through Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe there are literally millions of sub 18 year old armed men in uniform fighting and dying for what their Mullahs believe in. That is the nature of the beast.

One comment