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How
FOXNews, Owned by Rupert Murdoch and Managed by Republican Operative
Roger Ailes, Tries to Trivialize The Deaths of Our American Soldiers
Plus,
A BuzzFlash Reader Proves Brit Hume is Dead Wrong
A
BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
From
Brit Hume's War Time "Grapevine" on FOXNews [LINK]:
California
Roughly Same Size As Iraq
Two
hundred and seventy seven U.S. soldiers have now died in Iraq,
which means that, statistically speaking, U.S. soldiers have less
of a chance
of dying from all causes in Iraq than citizens have of being murdered
in California...which is roughly the same geographical size. The
most recent statistics indicate California has more than 2,300
homicides
each year,
which means about 6.6 murders each day. Meanwhile, U.S. troops have
been in Iraq for 160 days, which means they are incurring about
1.7, including
illness and accidents, each day.
This, by the way, is straight from the Pentagon and proves that FOXNews
is just a megaphone for the administration. A few weeks back, Rumsfeld
used a similarly thoughtless comparison, but just not with California.
Indeed
Hume, following the script of the Pentagon, recycled Rumsfeld's June
19 , 2003, remarks, replacing Washington, D.C., with California. Here
are Rumsfeld's callous remarks from June, according to an Associated
Press story:
"You've got to remember that if Washington, D.C., were
the size of Baghdad, we would be having something like 215 murders a
month," Rumsfeld said. "There's going to be violence in a big
city."
About
a dozen U.S. servicemen have been killed by hostile fire in Iraq since
President Bush declared major combat over on May 1. American military
commanders in Iraq say attacks on their forces happen daily, though one
commander on Tuesday dismissed the fighting as "militarily insignificant."
Rumsfeld's comments were quickly dismissed as not only disgracefully
insensitive, but also full of logical pitfalls. Here are reactions as
they appeared on one blog:
I'll
concede Rumsfeld his "Baghdad is like DC" analogy
when I read the following story in the paper:
Washington D.C. (Reuters) - A rocket-propelled grenade hit an ambulance
in southern D.C. on Thursday, killing an policeman and wounding two,
a D.C. police spokesman said.
Posted by Kos.
>>
And from the blog's comments board:
"Even
at the worst of crime wave in America, there were not, pace Rumsefeld,
215 police officers killed every month in large American cities.
Indeed, it is unlikely that police forces in the entire United States
have sustained a casualty rate comparable to our forces in Iraq in 2003
since the decalration of victory on the Lincoln.
In 1997, for example, fewer than 40 policemen were killed violently
on duty (about another 40 died in vehicle-related incidents) in the entire
United States...
Also, American casualty figures are presumably only a small percentage
of the overall violence in Iraq. How does Rumsfeld explain that there
have not been 215 or so homicides in Baghdad over the last month or so?
...Rumsfeld's
comments will be small comfort to the American troops bearing this
particular burden."
Posted by Edward Furey at June 19, 2003 07:15 AM
>>
Update
Number of police officers killed in the line of duty in the District
of Columbia -- 116.
That's for the entire existence of DC's Metropolitan Police Department,
i.e. since 1861. That calculates out to approximately 0.8 police deaths
per year in the District.
Sources: National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and MPD history
webpage.
Posted
by N in Seattle
[LINK]
Of
course, since Rumsfeld made his remarks, the number of soldiers who
have did
in Iraq since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" is
not just a dozen; it's 143 [LINK].
That brings us back to Brit Hume, who was an apologist for Bush the
Elder, playing tennis with the
administration back then. Can you see the collar around his neck,
with the leash being held by the White House?
The right wing shills don't give a damn about our soldiers dying. That's
just the bottom line. They just want to protect their power base and
their careers, at the cost of our young men and women in Iraq.
A
BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
*
* *
I'd
Rather Be in California
A BuzzFlash Reader Commentary
LETS
DO SOME CALCULATIONS Reshaping the dialogue to ask the real question -- Which is safer, a soldier
fearing combat death or death from an accident in Iraq or a person fearing
homocide in California?
A:
6.6 average daily murders in California with 38,000,000 people at risk.
(6.6/38,000,000 = probability is 0.0000002)
B:
1.7 average DAILY military related deaths in Iraq with 150,000 solders at risk
(1.7/150,000 = probability is 0.00001)
C:
RELATIVE RISK = RISK IN IRAQ / RISK IN CALIFORNIA
= 67.5 (when done on a calculator)
A SOLDIER IN IRAQ IS 66 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE KILLED IN COMBAT OR BY ACCIDENT
THAN A PERSON KILLED BY HOMICIDE IN CALIFORNIA.
OR
IF YOU ARE COMPARING DEATH IN IRAQ TO MURDER IN CALIFORNIA, CALIFORNIA IS 68
TIMES SAFER.
Lets send Brit Hume to Iraq, in any military uniform.
Also, now you see why FOX News is technically correct and unfair and unbalanced
in saying that most of American voted for Bush in 2000 -- this is true if you
are counting acreage or square miles (red versus blue on the map) and not people.
Have a great day,
Harry
Piotrowski
Oak Park
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