Independent 20th jan 2004

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=482947

George W Bush and the real state of the Union

Today the President gives his annual address. As the election battle begins,
how does his first term add up?

232:-- Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 and January
2004
501:-- Number of American servicemen to die in Iraq from the beginning of the
war - so far
0: --Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the
Allies in May 1945
0: --Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush
administration has allowed to be photographed
0: --Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for
soldiers killed in Iraq
100:-- Number of fund-raisers attended by Bush or Vice-President Dick Cheney in
2003
13:-- Number of meetings between Bush and Tony Blair since he became President
10 million:-- Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets in
opposition to the invasion of Iraq, setting an all-time record for
simultaneous protest
2:-- Number of nations that Bush has attacked and taken over since coming into
the White House
9.2:-- Average number of American soldiers wounded in Iraq each day since the
invasion in March last year
1.6:-- Average number of American soldiers killed in Iraq per day since
hostilities began
16,000:-- Approximate number of Iraqis killed since the start of war
10,000:-- Approximate number of Iraqi cililians killed since the beginning of
the conflict
$100 billion:-- Estimated cost of the war in Iraq to American citizens by the
end of 2003
$13 billion:-- Amount other countries have committed towards rebuilding Iraq
(much of it in loans) as of 24 October
36%:-- Increase in the number of desertions from the US army since 1999
92%:-- Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that had access to drinkable water a
year ago
60%:-- Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that have access to drinkable water
today
32%:-- Percentage of the bombs dropped on Iraq this year that were not
precision-guided
1983:-- The year in which Donald Rumsfeld gave Saddam Hussein a pair of golden
spurs
45%:-- Percentage of Americans who believed in early March 2003 that Saddam
Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks on the US
$127 billion:-- Amount of US budget surplus in the year that Bush became
President in 2001
$374 billion:-- Amount of US budget deficit in the fiscal year for 2003
1st: This year's deficit is on course to be the biggest in United States
history
$1.58 billion:-- Average amount by which the US national debt increases each
day
$23,920:-- Amount of each US citizen's share of the national debt as of 19
January 2004
1st:-- The record for the most bankruptcies filed in a single year (1.57
million) was set in 2002
10:-- Number of solo press conferences that Bush has held since beginning his
term. His father had managed 61 at this point in his administration, and Bill
Clinton 33
1st:-- Rank of the US worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per capita
$113 million:-- Total sum raised by the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, setting a
record in American electoral history
$130 million:-- Amount raised for Bush's re-election campaign so far
$200m:-- Amount that the Bush-Cheney campaign is expected to raise in 2004
$40m:-- Amount that Howard Dean, the top fund-raiser among the nine Democratic
presidential hopefuls, amassed in 2003
28:-- Number of days holiday that Bush took last August, the second longest
holiday of any president in US history (Recordholder: Richard Nixon)
13:-- Number of vacation days the average American worker receives each year
3:-- Number of children convicted of capital offences executed in the US in
2002. America is only country openly to acknowledge executing children
1st:-- As Governor of Texas, George Bush executed more prisoners (152) than any
governor in modern US history
2.4 million:-- Number of Americans who have lost their jobs during the three
years of the Bush administration
221,000:-- Number of jobs per month created since Bush's tax cuts took effect.
He promised the measure would add 306,000
1,000: --Number of new jobs created in the entire country in December. Analysts
had expected a gain of 130,000
1st: --This administration is on its way to becoming the first since 1929
(Herbert Hoover) to preside over an overall loss of jobs during its complete
term in office
9 million:-- Number of US workers unemployed in September 2003
80%:-- Percentage of the Iraqi workforce now unemployed
55%:-- Percentage of the Iraqi workforce unemployed before the war
43.6 million:-- Number of Americans without health insurance in 2002
130:-- Number of countries (out of total of 191 recognised by the United
Nations) with an American military presence
40%:-- Percentage of the world's military spending for which the US is
responsible
$10.9 million:-- Average wealth of the members of Bush's original 16-person
cabinet
88%:-- Percentage of American citizens who will save less than $100 on their
2006 federal taxes as a result of 2003 cut in capital gains and dividends
taxes
$42,000:-- Average savings members of Bush's cabinet are expected to enjoy this
year as a result in the cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes
$42,228:-- Median household income in the US in 2001
$116,000:-- Amount Vice-President Cheney is expected to save each year in taxes
44%:-- Percentage of Americans who believe the President's economic growth plan
will mostly benefit the wealthy
700:-- Number of people from around the world the US has incarcerated in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
1st:-- George W Bush became the first American president to ignore the Geneva
Conventions by refusing to allow inspectors access to US-held prisoners of
war
+6%:-- Percentage change since 2001 in the number of US families in poverty
1951:-- Last year in which a quarterly rise in US military spending was greater
than the one the previous spring
54%:-- Percentage of US citizens who believe Bush was legitimately elected to
his post
1^st:-- First president to execute a federal prisoner in the past 40 years.
Executions are typically ordered by separate states and not at federal level
9:-- Number of members of Bush's defence policy board who also sit on the
corporate board of, or advise, at least one defence contractor
35:-- Number of countries to which US has suspended military assistance after
they failed to sign agreements giving Americans immunity from prosecution
before the International Criminal Court
$300 million:-- Amount cut from the federal programme that provides subsidies to
poor families so they can heat their homes
$1 billion:-- Amount of new US military aid promised Israel in April 2003 to
offset the "burdens" of the US war on Iraq
58 million:-- Number of acres of public lands Bush has opened to road building,
logging and drilling
200:-- Number of public-health and environmental laws Bush has attempted to
downgrade or weaken
29,000:-- Number of American troops - which is close to the total of a whole
army division - to have either been killed, wounded, injured or become so ill
as to require evacuation from Iraq, according to the Pentagon
90%:-- Percentage of American citizens who said they approved of the way George
Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 26 September, 2001
53%:-- Percentage of American citizens who approved of the way Bush was handling
his job as president when asked on 16 January, 200