Iraqi civilian death statistics complied in early May by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) indicate that, contrary to the impression made on the evening news, Iraq actually has a lower civilian violent death rate than Washington, D.C. and pre-Katrina New Orleans. Iraq is also substantially safer than several foreign countries.
Says King, "I began to ask myself the question, if you were a civilian in Iraq, how could you tolerate that level of violence. What really is the level of violence?"
King calculates an annualized Iraqi civilian death rate of 27.5 per 100,000 based on US military and independent statistical sources.
The remnants of Saddam’s socialist dictatorship in alliance with al-Qaeda are still able to kill Iraqi civilians in sufficient numbers so that their leftist allies in the US can get the video footage they need to blame Bush—but fewer than they killed under Saddam.
As American leftists pretend to decry violence in Iraq, they celebrate the rise of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Pro-surrender activist Cindy Sheehan appeared with Chavez January 29. On the stage at the “World Social Forum” in Caracas, Sheehan noted that singer and activist Harry Belafonte recently called Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world,” and said, “I agree with him. George Bush is responsible for killing tens of thousands of innocent people.” Chavez encouraged Sheehan to run for President of the US and he announced that Sheehan would again be protesting in Crawford, TX.
Ironically, Venezuela has 31.5 violent deaths per 100,000 –14.5% higher than Iraq. It is Chavez who is responsible for “killing tens of thousands of innocent people.” The son of a recent Venezuelan murder victim explains, “The president is always saying it's OK to steal in order to eat.”
Chavez often provides justification for violence in his speeches: “The rich are condemned to hell. Christ himself condemned them. I say it from the heart: to be rich is evil.”
The world’s hand-wringing ‘humanitarians’ should demand that Chavez make Venezuela as safe as President Bush has made Iraq—or face impeachment by the Venezuelan Congress.
Venezuela is not alone in suffering at the hands of left-wing dictators or wanna-be dictators: Columbia, hounded by leftist narco-guerrillas, every year looses 61.7 of its citizens to violence per every 100,000.
South Africa, led by an increasingly corrupt African National Congress looses 49.6 per 100,000 to violent deaths every year. In Jamaica—ruled for decades by the socialist People’s National Party-- it is 32.4.
In Russia, as the Soviet system disintegrated, the count of violent deaths --outside the Gulags-- soared. In 1998 there were 30.6 homicides per 100,000 population. Three years after end of Saddam’s socialist dictatorship Iraq is actually more peaceful than was Russia seven years after the end of socialist USSR.
But high murder rates are not limited to overseas leftist-ruled countries. In the American urban centers—where African-American loyalty to leftist Democrat politicians is ‘rewarded’ with dependency creating social programs—levels of violence top Iraq and Venezuela.
In Washington, DC it is 45.9 violent deaths per 100,000. This means civilians living in Washington DC—home to many leftist operatives who spend all day scheming to undermine President Bush’s efforts in Iraq--are 63.5% less safe than Iraqi civilians.
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
They are all overwhelmingly Democratic.
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. With no sense of irony, corrupt Louisiana Democrats blame Bush for the Katrina disaster.
What about an accounting for the disaster created by Louisiana Democrat corruption over the decades?
New Orleans’ is represented by a typical Democrat dependency plantation overseer, Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA). Jefferson will likely soon be indicted for accepting bribes after FBI agents found $90,000 in cash stuffed in his freezer. He is so far refusing to step down from the House Ways and Means Committee or resign from Congress.
In his response to the President’s State of the Union speech, Jefferson complains about the rebuilding of New Orleans saying: “We need to be at the top of this nation's priorities, not at the bottom.”
While President Bush was dispatching Lt. General Russel Honore and the National Guard to evacuate people and clean up the post-Katrina mess, Jefferson made it clear what was at the top of his agenda. According to an ABC News report, Jefferson used two heavy National Guard trucks, a rescue helicopter and several National Guard soldiers for over an hour while he went back into his house to retrieve “a laptop computer, three suitcases and a box about the size of a small refrigerator”. (Or is that a freezer?)
Under William Jefferson and the rest of Louisiana’s corrupt Democrats, New Orleans’ pre-Katrina citizens were 93% more likely to suffer a violent death than Iraqi citizens are today. Americans should demand that Democrat politicians stop meddling overseas and make their parts of our country as safe as President Bush has made Iraq.
Andrew Walden is the publisher and editor of Hawaii Free Press, a Big Island-based newspaper. He can be reached via email at mailto:andrewwalden@email.com
HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly. Send editorials to mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com
