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The Tragic Dramatization of Iraq John L. Perry Some 3,650 American troops have been killed in Iraq. Over those four years since the invasion, 175,000 people died in traffic wrecks here at home. Rarely are Americans reminded by their local papers or television of the traffic death toll nearly 50 times worse than the Iraq war toll. To hear the mass media tell it, the only issue facing this country in the 2008 election is the death toll in Iraq. Politicians demand, "Bring the troops home from Iraq!" Page after page in newspapers and hour after hour on television dramatize America's military fatalities. While an average of 913 United States troops a year have been killed in Iraq in the past four years (plus two and a half months), 44,000 people a year have perished in U.S. traffic wrecks. The average monthly U.S. fatalities in Iraq are 76. On U.S. highways, the average monthly deaths are 3,667. That's more than the total 3,650 troop fatalities for the entire Iraq war so far. On an average day in Iraq, between two and three troops are killed. On U.S. roadways, the average daily death toll is 115.
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Twenty states have annual traffic death tolls exceeding the average annual fatality rate in the Iraq war: Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. In California alone, more people (some 4,300) die in one year in traffic wrecks than have been killed during the four-plus years of the entire Iraq war. California may well have more anti-war politicians than any other state, but they never seem to make the national news in demanding an end to their home state's staggering traffic-death toll. Nearly a third of U.S. traffic fatalities are on record as having involved alcohol. That assertion cannot be made about Iraq war fatalities. No one, drunk or sober, who wound up as a traffic fatality died defending this nation on a foreign battlefield from enemies who have sworn to kill every "infidel" man, woman and child in America.
Does any of this mean the deaths of Americans on the highways are of low significance? Certainly, not. Any death, on the field of battle or on a highway, is a horrible tragedy, an irrecoverable loss to the families affected. Loss of American lives in Iraq is terrible, that's true. It also happens to be almost 50 times worse right here at home. Yet, no politician is to be seen hogging the cameras to demand, "Bring the drivers home from the roads!" John L. Perry, a prize-winning newspaper editor and writer who served on White House staffs of two presidents, is a regular columnist for NewsMax.com. Read John Perry's columns here.
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