Children at an Iraqi orphanage in 2001. -photo: Reuters

Spring 2003

Number of precision-guided missiles and bombs that the United States plans to launch per hour at Baghdad during the war's first 48 hours: 63

Number of days it is expected to take for Baghdad residents to become "physically, emotionally, and psychologically exhausted": 2 to 5

Percentage of U.S. bombs and missiles dropped during the first Gulf War that were precision-guided: 9

Percentage of U.S. bombs and missiles ready to be dropped during the coming war that are precision-guided: 75

Number of U.S. satellite-guided bombs stockpiled in the Gulf region: 6700

Number of U.S. laser-guided bombs stockpiled in the Gulf region: 3000

Number of Americans killed during the first Gulf War: 148

Proportion of Americans killed by "friendly fire" during the first Gulf War: 1 in 3

Number of Iraqis killed during the first Gulf War: 100,000

Number of American soldiers poised for attack at the borders of Iraq: 100,000

Numbers of Iraqis and Americans who, doctors say, might die in the next war: 48,000 to 260,000

Number of additional deaths expected from the civil war within Iraq following an invasion: 20,000

Number of additional deaths expected from "post-war adverse health effects": 200,000

Ranking of Iraq among countries with proven reserves of oil: 2

Number of barrels of oil in Iraq's proven reserves: 112,000,000,000

Year that U.S. oil companies were prohibited from investing in, or buying Iraqi oil: 1991

Year that Dick Cheney, as head of oil field equipment manufacturer Halliburton, called for the end to sanctions against Iraq: 2000

U.S. military spending, in billions of dollars per day: 1.08

Ratio of U.S. military spending to the combined military budgets of Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria: 26 to 1

Number of Iraqi children who have died as a direct result of sanctions, according to UNICEF: 500,000

Sources: Harper's, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Agence France Presse, Parameters, Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You, Policy Analysis, Denver Post, Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, Sierra Club, The Village Voice.

Spring 2003