I think King may have got the numbers wrong. I heard that the rate in Iraq was 56 per 100,000, not 26.
85% of those murdered in Baltimore are criminals. If you not involved in the drug trade or scene, your chance of being murdered goes down dramatically. If 85% of those represented by the Iraqi death rate are terrorists or criminals then you have a point. But if not, you could certainly argue that you have a better chance of being an innocent victim of violence in Iraq than in Baltimore or another city.
Q: (Inaudible.)
Rumsfeld: I did that once [said DC has a higher murder rate then Baghdad], and I was advised that it wasnt the best idea. But there are hundreds of homicides in most major cities in the world without getting particular.
The safety of the Iraqi people? The safety of visitors?
I know Iraq is a lot safer for our troops than Korea was. And Iraq has been a lot safer for Iraqis than Korea was for Koreans (1.6 million Korean civilians died during Truman's Korean War)
Here's a table showing military deaths for 45 months of war in Iraq and in Korea.
Column 1 - US deaths each month, from war's beginning in Iraq
Column 2 - US deaths each month, from war's beginning in Korea
Column 3 - running totals of monthly deaths (each month + all the previous months) in Iraq
Column 4 - running totals of monthly deaths (each month + all the previous months) in Korea
Column 5 - semiannual totals of deaths in Iraq
Column 6 - semiannual totals of deaths in Korea
Column 7 - yearly totals Iraq
Column 8 - yearly totals Korea.
65 | 2,849 | running tot I | running tot K | SemiA I | SemiA K | each year I | each year K |
73 | 1,754 | 138 | 4603 | ||||
37 | 3,345 | 175 | 7,948 | ||||
30 | 386 | 205 | 8,334 | ||||
47 | 3,475 | 252 | 11,809 | ||||
35 | 2,154 | 287 | 13,963 | 287 | 13,963 | ||
30 | 657 | 317 | 14,620 | ||||
43 | 2,068 | 360 | 16,688 | ||||
82 | 886 | 442 | 17,574 | ||||
40 | 1,072 | 482 | 18,646 | ||||
47 | 1,161 | 529 | 19,807 | ||||
19 | 806 | 548 | 20,613 | 261 | 6,650 | 548 | 20,613 |
52 | 314 | 600 | 20,927 | ||||
147 | 504 | 747 | 21,431 | ||||
88 | 1,394 | 835 | 22,825 | ||||
44 | 1,659 | 879 | 24,484 | ||||
61 | 531 | 940 | 25,015 | ||||
71 | 221 | 1,011 | 25,236 | 463 | 4,623 | ||
84 | 206 | 1,095 | 25,442 | ||||
68 | 147 | 1,163 | 25,589 | ||||
140 | 175 | 1,303 | 25,764 | ||||
73 | 226 | 1,376 | 25,990 | ||||
108 | 201 | 1,484 | 26,191 | ||||
62 | 484 | 1,546 | 26,675 | 535 | 1,439 | 998 | 6,062 |
36 | 450 | 1,582 | 27,125 | ||||
52 | 412 | 1,634 | 27,537 | ||||
82 | 619 | 1,716 | 28,156 | ||||
77 | 1,017 | 1,793 | 29,173 | ||||
55 | 302 | 1,848 | 29,475 | ||||
85 | 197 | 1,933 | 29,672 | 387 | 2,997 | ||
54 | 173 | 1,987 | 29,845 | ||||
96 | 243 | 2,083 | 30,088 | ||||
88 | 541 | 2,171 | 30,629 | ||||
67 | 310 | 2,238 | 30,939 | ||||
65 | 199 | 2,303 | 31,138 | ||||
56 | 471 | 2,359 | 31,609 | 426 | 1,937 | 813 | 4,934 |
33 | 1,006 | 2,392 | 32,615 | ||||
81 | 7 | 2,473 | 32,622 | ||||
71 | 5 | 2,544 | 32,627 | ||||
61 | 63 | 2,605 | 32,690 | ||||
51 | 52 | 2,656 | 32,742 | ||||
70 | 360 | 2,726 | 33,102 | 367 | 1,493 | ||
76 | 131 | 2,802 | 33,233 | ||||
108 | 129 | 2,910 | 33,362 | ||||
76 | 83 | 2,986 | 33,445 | ||||
30 | 33,475 | ||||||
I take it he was near the Naval base in SouthEast DC? There is a DC custom of always naming the quadrant of the city in the address (NW, NE, SE, SW) because many of the same intersection names occur in all four quadrants.
DC was redlined by real estate agents soon after the Civil Rights act was passed in 1964 and blacks began streaming into DC to take civil service jobs. Unfortunately, this forced poor blacks into NE and SE neighborhoods, causing "white flight" into NW neighborhoods (SW contains few residences), or out to the suburbs, instead of integration. The result was some entrenched pockets of poverty and inter-generational poverty culture.