What have we wrought...?

Based on what many consider to be a low estimate, some 50,000 Iraqis have died violently since the US invasion in March, 2003. To put this in perspective, consider:

... the 50,000 number is daunting, particularly in a country with a population of about 26 million. "Proportionately," the Times says, "it is equivalent to 570,000 Americans being killed nationwide in the last three years." Put another way: It's as if the United States had suffered an attack of the magnitude of 9/11 once every five or six days since March 2003.[emphasis mine]

Salon story (quoting the LA Times) here. (Subscription required.)