I Was Going to Get Around to It, But Now I Don't Have To

Hitchens rips into the Lancet report.

Also, even the Iraq War hating Iraq body count rips into the Lancet report (via Instapundit).

Using the same methodologies I bet you could easily show a massive 'excess death rate' in post apartheid South Africa. Crime rates (they trail only Colombia for murders per capita) in South Africa are exceedingly high, standards of living have dropped. South Africa continues to struggle towards an equitable prosperity and a properly functioning government. There has yet to be a truly successful post apartheid government. Nelson Mandela made a great figurehead and rallied the country through a difficult transition, but as administrators, he and his successors have been failures.

Would these so-called 'excess deaths' and 'excess crimes' argue against the ending of apartheid?

(do I really have to answer that?)

Democracy is hard, democracy is messy, and democracy easily beats all the alternatives.

(or course this fella says it better)