DEATH RATES, IRAQ VS. WASH, DC

I came across this loony post on the "The War in Iraq" AOL message board:

There has been an average of 160,000 US troops in Iraq. Sadly, the death rate has been 60 per 100,000 troops. Shamefully, the death rate from shootings in Washington DC is 806 per 100,000, that's a 1,343% increase above the US military death rate in Iraq! Therefore, the likelihood of being shot in our nation's capital, which by the way has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, is much greater than being shot in Iraq!



I recall that some wingnut put this out weeks ago but I have forgotten who it was and I have also forgotten where I read the rebuttal of this nonsense. So, I did a little work myself.

Here are the facts:

Iraq Death Rate (per 100,000)

2004 675.25
2005 582.28

The most recent statistic I could readily find for D.C. is from the year 2002. The rate was 45.9

SHOW YOUR WORK SECTION

Iraq Deaths
2004 848
2005 846

http://icasualties.org/oif/

2004
January 125,000
February 108,000
March 117,500
April 130,000
May 140,000
June 142,500
July 137,500
August 145,000
September 130,000
October 136,000
November 142,500
December 153,000

AVERAGE 125,583
RATE PER 100,000: 675.25

2005
January 150,000
February 145,000
March 138,500
April 138,000
May 138,000
June 138,000
July 138,000
August 138,000
September 145,000
October 155,000
November 160,000
December 160,000

AVERAGE 145, 292
RATE PER 100,000: 582.28
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_es.htm

WASH., DC
2002 45.9
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004902.html