During the crack cocaine epidemic that swept through New York in the 1980s, the murder rate topped 3,000 a year. In modern-day "democratic" Iraq, they got that number covered in a month.

An average of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq last month, the highest monthly tally of violent deaths since the fall of Baghdad, the United Nations reported today.

They miss out on enjoying the "democracy" we've wrought in their country.

United Nations officials also said that the number of violent deaths had been steadily increasing since at least last summer. In the first six months of this year, the civilian death toll jumped more than 77 percent, from 1,778 in January to 3,149 in June, the organization said.

This sharp upward trend reflected the dire security situation in Iraq as sectarian violence has worsened and Iraqi and American government forces have been powerless to stop it.

So what exactly is supposed to be getting better? How is it that our prolonged presence there is improving anything?

Last month, The Los Angeles Times, drawing from statistics provided by the Ministry of Health and the Baghdad morgue among other agencies, reported that at least 50,000 people, and perhaps many more, had been killed since the invasion.

American soldiers and Marines continue to pay a price as well. But at least Saddam Hussein is no longer "thumbing his nose at us."

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