Written by: Beck

It's easy for an anti-war protester to blather tripe like, "The average Iraqi citizen is worse off today than he was prior to the American invasion," but it's hard for a pro-war supporter to refute it. You're left with a battle of rhetoric which doesn't ultimately do the pro-war cause any good. After all, the anti-war people have the luxury of ranting about what-ifs, while the pro-war people are saddled with the body counts and the suicide bombers. As such, I was happy to see this article by Andrew Cline over on NRO in which he gives some good, hard statistics which nicely demonstrate that the invasion was the right thing to do. Some numbers for you:

...[A] poll conducted for ABC News and the BBC found that 48 percent of Iraqis called the war "right" while only 39 percent called it "wrong," and 56 percent said their lives were better after the war. Seventy percent of Iraqis said their lives were either "very good" (13 percent) or "quite good" (57 percent). Someone should ask Howard Dean, who in January said that Iraqi living standards are "a whole lot worse now," about these results.

Seventy-one percent of Iraqis said the job market was better now than before the war. Thirty-nine percent said the availability of electricity was better after the war, compared to 25 percent who said it was worse. Fifty-four percent said security was better after the war, compared to only 26 percent who said it was worse.

On every subject, from security to medical care to schools, more Iraqis said their lives were better after the war.