Here's an interesting corollary to my Putting Civilian Deaths in Perspective and Intrinsic Value articles:
Folks like Idiot/Savant like to prate about how all human lives have equal intrinsic value. My analysis shows that, in the 548 days since the Allied invasion of Iraq, that activity has saved a grand total of about 48 thousand Iraqi lives.
Quite a tidy sum.
Of course, this massive savings of Iraqi lives has come at some cost: during the same period, Western Washington University Sociology Professor Ed Stephan tells us that we have lost 1,032 troops in Bush's Iraq Quagmire. He also points us to the National Priorities Project, which reports that—as I type—the war has cost the U.S. taxpayer on the order of $135.9 billion.
I get the distinct impression that Professor Ed disapproves.
Let's examine the consequences of this disapproval, shall we?
According to our collective numbers, each Iraqi civilian life saved so far in Iraq has cost:
- About 1/47th of an Allied soldier's life, and
- About $2.8 million.
Now, as I memtioned in my Intrinsic Value article, U.S. courts have established pretty consistently via damage settlements that a single human life in American society is worth on the order of $10 million. Accordingly, the fraction of a soldier expended to save each Iraqi life can be valued at about $215 thousand. That gives a total cost of about $3 million for each Iraqi life saved.
So we have an implicit exchange rate of about 3:1 between Iraqi and American lives... and, given its stalwart opposition to the war, one can only conclude that American Left considers this exchange rate to be too low.
Hmm. Maybe all men aren't created equal after all.
Or maybe the Left is just holding out for a better deal.