Why My Nephew Won't Be Deployed to Compton

kbade recently tagged a January 2007 Newsbusters post by Tom Blumer which compared the violence in Iraq against the violence in major U.S. cities. I'll admit that there are some apples vs. oranges elements in such a comparison, but it makes for interesting reading.

After calculating a 2006 Iraqi violent death rate of 56.49 per 100,000 residents, Blumer documented violent death rates for several U.S. cities, going back to 1991. Some of the more recent results:

• Gary, IN - 2005; 58.0


• Compton, CA - 2005; 67.1


• New Orleans, LA - 2006; 67.5


• New Orleans, LA - 2004; 59.6


• New Orleans, LA - 2003; 57.7


• E. St. Louis, IL - 2004; 63.4

Blumer's underlying argument was that we should consistently apply resources to both these American cities and to Iraq.

Which raises the issue - shouldn't we do them in the same way? I mean, we deployed National Guard troops in New Orleans - should we deploy them in Iraq? Oh, wait...we're already doing that.

Now let's look at the alternative - deploying U.S. Marines to Compton. My nephew recently made some level of commitment (not sure what) to join the Marines next year; if they deploy him to Compton, he'll at least be close to home and can visit his video gaming buddies on weekends.

Hmmm...issues with the police, corruption, poverty...are there parallels between Compton and Iraq? One shouting poster thinks so:

YALL CRAZY!!! COMPTON IRAQ WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?ITS CRAZY EVERYWHERE!IF THE NEWS TOLD U ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED EVERYWHERE,YOU WOULDNT COME OUTSIDE!!!!ONLY TIME BLACKS GET INTO IT WIT ANYBODY ITS OVER RESPECT OR MONEY.BASIC HUMAN [stuff]!!!IT HAPPENS,AND CANT BE AVOIDED UNLESS YOU HIDIN.EVEN THEN YOU'LL STILL HAVE PROBLEMS!

Someone who didn't shout and who has a satirical mind wrote this:

True I live in Compton and Compton is not that bad any more like in the 1990s it was bad for real you use to see hoes,gangbangers, drug dealers everywere and the police didnt care about it who was getting rob or kill. Today you only hear gun shoots everyday but it has changed in the 90s it was all day know you hear gun shoots everyday but only at night. Compton is not that violent like a normal city we have carjacking and people getting kill or rob. People who say Compton is another Iraq they are lying living in Compton for 17 years I have only gotten rob 19 times, and my house dosent that much bullet hoes in the houses. What a like about Compton the police dosent take nothing emergency in other word the police dosent care nothing what people are doing in the streets.Houses are expensive in Compton though

Regarding the Compton police, here's what some ex-police officers say:

The Compton Police Officers' Association lead a fight to back the citizens of Compton against a corrupt local government. This lead to the dismantling of the Compton Police Department before the city officials themselves were voted out of office, indicted, and later jailed.

So, will a post-Rove President Bush sponsor a surge into New Orleans, Compton, and elsewhere, and identify them as part of the axis of evil? Will opponents demand that the U.N. take a major role in this action? Will freedom fries be banned in East St. Louis? The world may never know.

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