Trends That Matter - Latest Iraq metrics from Brookings

Here's a resource from The Brookings Instituation for discovering more about the latest trends that show how well or badly things are going in Iraq - Brookings Iraq Index. The trends in Iraq are of course trends that matter quite a lot to a large number of people.

This kind of information and depth of detail and range of scope about what's happening in Iraq rarely reaches the ordinary citizen. Tidbits of this important data have appeared occasionally in the mainstream media. I would venture a guess that most people have never seen any of this data and that they might find the academic approach of the report itself to be a bit daunting.

Nevertheless, the data in the report is important and ordinary citizens are certainly capable of understanding it and coming to their own conclusions about what these trends might mean while engaging in meaningful discussions with others.

What's holding us back is that these data are neither readily-reusable in the sense we have been discussing in the blog, nor are they organized in a form to making then readily digestible by all interested citizens. We'll be commenting further in future posts on how we might move from the data in this report to both ready-reusability and ready-digestibility. For now, to give a flavor of why I think this report is so important to dig into, here is just a sample of the range of factors that are covered.

The list includes metrics covered is extensive and includes security indicators, insurgency indicators, migration indicators, education indicators, economic and quality of life indicators.

1. U.S. Troop Fatalities since March 2003
2. U.S. Troops Wounded in Action since March 2003
3. Iraqi Military and Police Killed since January 2005
4. Car Bombs in Iraq (Lethal and Non-Lethal)
5. Iraqi Civilians Killed by US Troops
6. Iraqi Civilians Killed By Violence
7. Multiple Fatality Bombings in Iraq
8. Killed and Wounded in Multiple Fatality Bombings
9. Iraqis Kidnapped
10. Total Number of Insurgents Detained or Killed
11. Iraqi Prison Population
12. Estimated Number of Foreign Fighters in the Insurgency
13. Coalition Troop Strength in Iraq
14. Average Weekly Attacks by Time Period: 1 January 2004 – 20 January 2006
15. Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) Detonated And Disarmed January – June, 2006
16. Average Number of Daily Patrols and Violent Events in Baghdad
17. Internally Displaced Persons in Iraq
18. Refugees And Asylum Seekers
19. Size of Iraqi Security Forces on Duty
20. Estimated Ministry of Defense Forces’ Capabilities
21. Estimated Ministry of Interior National Police Forces’ Capabilities
22. US Air Missions
23. Fuel
24. Oil Revenue from Exports
25. Electricity
26. Nationwide Unemployment Rate .
27. Estimated Costs of U.S. Operations in Iraq
28. Relative Amount of Car Traffic
29. Typical Length of Gasoline Lines
30. Telephone subscribers
31. Internet subscribers
32. Doctors in Iraq
33. Current Water Projects outputs Vs. CPA Goals
34. Education Indicators - Enrollment