Does the death of a gangbanger who died in a turf war last year on the streets of Los Angeles or Chicago matter as much as the death of an American soldier in Iraq?

This is the implication of one of Victor Davis Hanson's favorite statistical equivalency arguments which he uses to defend the U.S. military occupation of Iraq:

"500 Americans tragically are dead [in Iraq], a fatality rate as great as those murdered in either Chicago or Los Angeles last year."

David T. Beito - 1/26/2004

LOL

John Lopez - 1/23/2004

...I'd be floored if a NRO contributor saw the US government as a gang and its armed employees as the gang enforcers they are.