Thought for Memorial Day

From This American Life program #320, “What’s in a Number? — 2006 edition”, first aired in November 2006, about estimates of the number of Iraqis that have been killed by the war (2:40 into the audio):

Ira Glass: People I talked to said they’re scared all the time. Everybody said that it was better when Saddam was in power. Not that they liked Saddam. Mohammed, an architect, described the choice between Saddam and the current situation this way:

Iraqi: They’re two bad choices, I must say. Saddam staying in power is not a solution. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. But today there is no tunnel.

Let’s repeat the key point again:

[Under Saddam,] there was no light at the end of the tunnel. But today there is no tunnel.