Washington, D.C. More Deadly Than Iraq

NewsMax.com ^ | July 31, 2003 | Carl Limbacher

[Carl/NewsMax]

The Washington press corps has begun its daily drumbeat over U.S. casualties in Iraq, with reporters citing "body count" statistics as evidence that the Bush administration is "losing the peace."

And while even a single U.S. soldier's combat death is one too many, the truth is, more Americans are being killed daily in Washington, D.C. than in Baghdad.

Since President Bush told the nation on May 1 that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 52 U.S. soldiers have been killed in hostilities, according to statistics complied by Reuters on Thursday.

In the same period of time, however, 66 Americans were attacked and killed on Washington, D.C.'s mean streets, a city with a total population of 600,000.

To be sure, with just 148,000 soldiers on the ground in Iraq, the per capita danger for our GIs is significantly higher. Still, there were a whopping 262 murders last year in the nation's capital, according to statistics compiled by SafeStreetsDC.com.

The press seems perfectly willing to tolerate D.C.'s daily body count without so much as a peep about the failure of local authorities to keep the peace in America's most dangerous city.

[cake_crumb]

The press is willing to tolorate anything as long as it's perpetrated by the Party of Rats and their Axis of Evil allies.

[Chi-townChief]

I made the same observation about Chicago murders a few weeks ago and was roundly criticized here.

[b4its2late]

Thanking the Good Lord for the "new" internet media, which has been from it's beginning, the better media.

[dts32041]

Obviously I didn't comment on you observation, wonder what the good catholic dickie or the head of the daley mob would say to that.

[Cacophonous]

I've heard this before, and it ranks as one of the dumbest arguments and comparisons anywhere. It's comparing apples and radial tires.

Some questions to consider:

How many Iraqi civilians are killed daily in Baghdad by fellow Iraqis (raghead-on-raghead crime)?

How many US Army soldiers are patrolling the streets of DC?

[Austin Willard Wright]

I am sick and toward of these attempts to diminish the importance of the deaths of American soldiers.

[Austin Willard Wright]

That's "sick and tired."

[OPS4]

Amen!
Ops4 God Bless America!

[talleyman]

Not by me - I said the same thing on an earlier thread. BTW, we just had a police officer murdered by a drug thug here in good ol' Richmond. The troops are safer in Iraq.

[OPS4]

I am sick and tired of people not mourning the thousands killed by terrorism on 9-11 in N.Y. and in Israel.

Our Soldiers are fighting to keep these evil jerks from
killing Hundreds of thousands more!

OPs4 God BLess America!

[talleyman]

What you said.

[basil]

I don't think anyone is trying to minimize the death of one American soldier. I think the point is that the media keeps repeating the "news" of the deaths of the soldiers in a tone that seems to be an indictiment of President Bush. IMO, that is why it is sometimes necessary to put things in perspective. We are, after all, at war--and war brings casualities with it. There is supposedly no war going on in DC., ergo, the situation in DC is much worse than the situation in Baghdad in regard to "casualties".

[BlackbirdSST]

I guess if you repeat a lie often enough.....Blackbird.

[LiberalSlayer99]

Great article to put things in perspective. Another thing that the media never points out, is that our armed forces are strictly volunteer. If you signed up, you have to be prepared to do what it takes to defend our country...and that includes the greatest sacrifice for love of country...one's life. I respect each an every one of those brave souls....

Of course, the Dems don't see it that way. If you signed up it was only because you're too poor to afford college, or you wanted to learn a trade, that the government failed you elsewhere in life so the military is your last resort. The DemonRats hate the military...and always have. They too easily cast aside the lives lost on 9/11 and that we're at war with an enemy that doesn't have a traditional army. This War will last a long time...and Iraq is the 2nd to fall.

Sometimes your enemies won't back down and force is necessary...the liberals just don't get it...of course, they're all protected with people that are tasked with laying down their lives to protect them....how hypocritical of them.

[Cacophonous]

Really? If we take a 3rd ID soldier, in full battle gear, with the rest of his unit, and put him on the streets of Richmond (a lovely town, by the way), he'd be in more danger than in Baghdad? That's asinine.

[cake_crumb]

"I am sick and toward of these attempts to diminish the importance of the deaths of American soldiers."

I'm tired of it too: both the relativist attempts and the attempts to turn their sacrifices into a campaign platform.

However badly made, the article is trying to make the point that not as many are dying as the press would have us believe. It's not a quagmire. It isn't Vietnam. It's Iraq, and a whole different ballgame.

I'm tired of the constant media pounding meant do diminish our soldiers' sacrifices just so Howard Dean and John Kerry can stump on their graves.

[Austin Willard Wright]

This is a world policing operation pure and simple, a la Kosovo. I suspect that most Americans in the armed forces volunteered to defend the U.S. not "nation build" and play social engineer nursemaid in in that medieval hell hole called Iraq.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Indictment of Bush? If the shoe fits. It is fascinating why freepers want to go to such lengths to defend a man who has done more to advance the cause of big government (both overseas and at home) than any President since LBJ.

[cake_crumb]

"Really? If we take a 3rd ID soldier, in full battle gear, with the rest of his unit, and put him on the streets of Richmond (a lovely town, by the way), he'd be in more danger than in Baghdad? That's asinine."

Well yes, it is, but I'm still waiting for the libertarians to explain to me why they're fighting for the "right" of Iraqis to keep and bear RPGs.