We are at it again, folks. Iraq’s elections are today. Following in the footsteps of our previous Map obsessions, here is the latest collection of graphics — but this time, we look at Iraq, and not the US elections. Call it everything you wanted to kn ow about Iraq — its geography, politics, religions, ethnicity, insurgency and violence — but were afraid to ask . . .
Overview:
Iraqi Provinces (Governorates)
consider these Iraq’s "States"
Iraq: Not a Blue or Red State
more of the sameIraq’s Complex Government Structure
Is this any way to run City Hall?Iraq’s Oil Infrastructure
People love Freedom . . .Iraq Religous and Ethnic Groups
kinda complex when compared to our messIraqi Voter Participation by Ethnic Group
Some groups will be boycotting the election
Violence: Unfortunately, this has become the most prevalent type of map we’ve come across
175Election Attacks in Iraq
Iraqis voted despite attacks; Now if we can only get Americans to do so . . .Iraq Attacks by district
attacks per 100,000 personsIraq’s Security-challenged Provinces
No, really everything’s going just fineIraq Insurgency Map
except for the 100,000 dead civilians
And how could we do this without throwing in a US poll?
US on Bush’s handling of Iraq War
You broke it, you bought it . . .
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Come across any others? Please let me know
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UPDATE: January 31, 2005 11:01am
The L.A. Times has an extensive collection of graphics (Pre-2005) covering many other issues — worth checking out . . .
UPDATE 2: February 1, 2005 7:01am
The WSJ has a nice round up of the rest of the world’s Press reaction to the Iraq vote: Graphic: World Press Reacts
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Sources:
WSJ
NYT
BBC
CIA World fact book: Iraq
UN Sat
LAT
What I’m finding interesting and a bit disturbing is that right wing blogs are really stepping up the theme that “mainstream media” (msm) distort the news, hide all the bad news, encourage the enemy, demoralize the population and are the cause of our problems.
This is kind of how they “won” Vietnam.
While I’m perfectly willing to believe that the mass media doesn’t stress accomplishments enough it’s also true that the general public isn’t aware of how serious other problems are, the crime and the costs to the Iraqi people, infrastructure issues… corruption… the simple fact of the matter is that giving a full picture of a complicated siuation is not something periodical media do well.
But the reality of the media isn’t just that CNN runs some disturbing scenes over and over, but that tens of millions believe that looting was a few artifacts from a museum, that prisoner abuse was one group at one prison, that Baghdad is safer than Chicago (I don’t make this up, the same people who complain that the media reports all bombings don’t notice the media doesn’t report the crime wave, the kidnappings and murders that have occured since the lotting and the terrorist intimidation in the last year, a few remarks that the morgues are full, that 30 workers on one sewage project have been killed for collaboration but this is the only one were people kept count) so coverage is flawed in both directions. Not just lack of the positive signs.
But I don’t think that matters to those doing thw whining. I feel the goal is to scapegoat the media for failure. I think the increasing energy of the indictment is an indication that deep down these people feel the thing isn’t going to work. I’m not sure how they hope to pull this off, but the believers do have faith in their preachers.
It’s like their claim that the army is so small because of Clinton though Bush had 3 years since 9/11 to build it up and plenty of money, I guess he couldn’t because Hillary wouldn’t like it. Wait! One of her critiques a year and a half ago was that the adminstration wouldn’t increase it’s size…
It was considered more than big enough to handle the problem at hand. That dang MSM. It’s all their fault along with Bill.
Maps of Iraq’s People
The Big Picture has a series of maps ranging from population distribution to predominant religions/ethnicities to oil to violence….