The violent death rate in Iraq compares rather well to the rate in some U.S. and other world cities.
Therefore the Bush Administration’s occupation of America should end now. It should not be replaced with a Democratic administration, by the way, since that would only exacerbate the violent crime ratio and the influx of odorous hippies and anarchists and people badgering you about the need to be a greenie and yammering on an on about carbon offsets.
But anyway, if I understand Nancy Pelosi and other lefties: troops …err… and citizens … should be “redeployed” from America! No blood for… well… all manner of quality innovative goods and services demanded the world over! End the occupation!
A reader (thanks Kim) sent one of those funny e-mails that read like this:
This is an interesting statistic
Regardless of where you stand on the issue of the U.S. involvement in Iraq, here is a sobering statistic:
There has been a monthly average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theatre of operations during the last 22 months, and a total of 2,867 deaths. That gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000 soldiers.
The firearm death rate in Washington D.C. is 80.6 per 100,000 persons for the same period.
That means that you are about 25% more likely to be shot and killed in the U.S. Capital than you are in Iraq .
Conclusion: The U.S. should pull out of Washington.
Of course it’s trashy internet humor, right? Sort of but not really. I checked some of the stats myself, and it turns out it’s based on fact, although comparing an entire country—even Iraq—with select cities is playing somewhat fast and loose with stats. But here’s an article whose author built on the raw facts:
Iraq Less Violent than Washington, D.C.
Monday, May 29, 2006 1:22 p.m. EDT
Despite media coverage purporting to show that escalating violence in Iraq has the country spiraling out of control, civilian death statistics complied by Rep. Steve King, R-IA, indicate that Iraq actually has a lower civilian violent death rate than Washington, D.C.
Appearing with Westwood One radio host Monica Crowley on Saturday, King said that the incessantly negative coverage of the Iraq war prompted him to research the actual death numbers.
“I began to ask myself the question, if you were a civilian in Iraq, how could you tolerate that level of violence,” he said. “What really is the level of violence?”
Using Pentagon statistics cross-checked with independent research, King said he came up with an annualized Iraqi civilian death rate of 27.51 per 100,000.
While that number sounds high – astonishingly, the Iowa Republican discovered that it’s significantly lower than a number of major American cities, including the nation’s capital.
“It’s 45 violent deaths per 100,000 in Washington, D.C.,” King told Crowley.
Other American cities with higher violent civilian death rates than Iraq include:
Detroit – 41.8 per 100,000
Baltimore – 37.7 per 100,000
Atlanta – 34.9 per 100,000
St. Louis – 31.4 per 100,000
The American city with the highest civilian death rate was New Orleans before Katrina – with a staggering 53.1 deaths per 100,000 – almost twice the death rate in Iraq.
Smug liberal-leftist anti-American Canadian alert: Those of you living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (what I call a li’l bit o’ the old Soviet Union right here in Canada), you best zip it.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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