Posted on my blog Negative Railroad:
Last night another question popped into my mind. We used to hear a daily body count from Iraq. The News Hour would end a segment each day by showing photos of US military personnel who died fighting for liberty. (That’s not how Jim Lehrer framed it, though) I wondered, are they still running that feature? What is the “death toll” since the turn of the year?
It is approaching zero.
As of January 25th, there have been four deaths as a result of hostile action this year. For comparison, Jacksonville, FL, has suffered six murders. DC has nine. New Orleans, with a population roughly equal to the number of troops deployed in the Iraq Theater, has seen seven deaths as the result of hostile action so far in 2009.
Our troops are safer in Iraq than in our cities. If we want to work for a better, safer world, our attention should be focused close to home. We are most effective on our blocks and in our neighborhoods. The more we direct energy and attention toward foreign entanglements, our individual effectiveness approaches zero. And the killing continues at home.
If I recall correctly, Minneapolis has been murder-free so far this year. Complex times and human passions probably put a zero-murder year out of reach. But that’s what I’m hoping for. And many of the volunteer hours I put in (even before a President started scolding me) have been working toward that change.
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