A Republican congressman representing rural southern Michigan is taking heat for saying that most of Iraq is at least as under control as Detroit is.
Freshman Rep. Tim Walberg's comments, made Monday on WILS-AM in Lansing, didn't sit well with Democrats -- who issued a news release Wednesday -- or the office of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
"Any reference to Detroit as a war zone is absurd," said Matt Allen, the mayor's spokesman.
Walberg of Tipton didn't quite say Detroit was a war zone. He said most of Iraq "is reasonably under control, at least as well as Detroit."
Walberg's spokesman, Matt Lahr, said the congressman "frequently shares sentiments expressed to him by the soldiers and veterans he meets." He wouldn't say whether a soldier or soldiers made the Detroit remark.
There have been 3,223 U.S. military deaths in Iraq since the war began in 2003, and more than 10,000 Iraqi civilian and security forces killed since January 2006, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. About 1,576 people died as a result of homicide or nonnegligent manslaughter in Detroit since the beginning of 2003.
While the numbers don't equate, they are at least comparable.
When can we expect a timetable for pulling out of Detroit?
I can see the protests now: "Kwame lied! People died!"
Personally, I think this whole thing is a smoke screen. The real problem is Ohio's nuclear ambitions. It wouldn't be so bad if not for their constant threats to "wipe Indiana off the map".
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