Selective outrage over Iraqi civilian deaths.

The bedrock belief of this colorful ["anti-war"]group is that American military might is grinding up the citizenry of Iraq for motives of profit, revenge and/or imperialism.

How many civilians have died since the onset of the war in Iraq? There are varying reports, but the consensus appears to be around 30,000 people, a number recently referenced by President Bush . . . .

* * * *

What conclusion can one draw from this? That these protestors are pacifists, people of conscience opposed to all military conflict? That they are overwhelmed by the unique suffering and death caused by modern American imperialism? Or that these are decent people, simply horrified by man's inhumanity to man?

There certainly are a few classic pacifists sprinkled into this or any anti-war movement, but they are the rare exception rather than the rule. The evidence supports only one conclusion: it is not the death and suffering of innocents that is objectionable to these protestors, only the death and suffering caused by American policy. These people protest America, not war.

Aslan goes on to tally the number of deaths caused by Saddam and compares them to the deaths supposedly caused by the U.S.

Result: 37,616 to 92,294 fewer deaths (counting only Iraqi deaths) in Iraq under U.S. occupation than would have been the case under Saddam Hussein had he stayed in power and killed at his customary rate.

Aslan points out, too, that the people who so hate U.S.-caused deaths couldn't care a fig about death in Darfur or E. Timor.

The anti-war movement views Iraqi civilians deaths as grist for the anti-American mill. Dead Sudanese are a statistic. Dead Iraqis before the war are a memory. Dead civilians in Iraq today are an exhilarating opportunity for the socialist left to undermine American liberty, power and society.

"Fuzzy Moral Math." By Aslan, Logic Times, 4/9/06 (emphasis in last paragraph ours).