Britt Hume - Fox News Host
Quote/Claim:
"Statistically speaking U.S. soldiers have less of a chance of dying from all causes in Iraq than citizens have of being murdered in California, which is roughly the same geographical size. The most recent statistics indicate California has more than 2300 homicides each year, which means about 6.6 murders each day. Meanwhile, U.S. troops have been in Iraq for 160 days, which means they're incurring about 1.7 deaths, including illness and accidents each day." [Source: Fox News Web site]
Fact:
"Statistically speaking," a Californian has a 1 in 5.2 million chance of being murdered every day, while a soldier in Iraq has a 1 in 113,000 chance of dying every day. To come up with such a gross distortion Hume merely shuffled relevant statistics--making a geographic comparison when a population comparison was necessary. At the time of Hume's statement, there were about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and more than 34.5 million people living in California. If America had as many troops in Iraq as there were people in California, and a comparable number were being killed, there would have been 385 deaths per day in Iraq, as opposed to the 6.6 murders in California.
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