CASUALTY COUNT
Dennis Cauchon of USA Today puts U.S. casualties in Iraq into historical and domestic perspective:
Even this year, being a U.S. soldier is about as risky as being a police officer. Criminals kill about 60 officers each year in a force of 750,000 nationwide. If the 1.5 million members of the armed forces had a similar rate of loss, 120 soldiers a year would die in combat.
The article, which analyzes the reasons for the low casualty rate, deserves a reading in full.