EDITORIAL NOTE: While all of us are saddened by the increasing numbers of Americans who have given their lives for their country, serving in Iraq—approximately 3,193 in the last four years, equaling about 799 deaths-a-year—there are other numbers of lives given, and taken, that should never be ignored. Consider the following factual statistics when lamenting the price of war...remembering that each and every death (whether war related or not) is grievous.

The following statistics tell us that:

In 2001, on September 11th, 2,973 people died and 24 remain missing—presumed dead. That is 2997 deaths in just a few hours.

During the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps suffered a total of 2,896 casualties of which 2,117 were deaths over several hours.

The official number of Americans killed in the Revolutionary War (4,435) is only about 2/3 the numbers usually given by historians. The total of US combat deaths during the Civil War is given as 140,414—or some 30,000 higher than most historians would estimate. The VA accepts without comment the very incomplete statistics of Confederate War dead—74,524.

And, outside of war, other U.S. death statistics include...

Killed in car accidents 42,116*

Killed by the common flu 20,000*

Killed by murders 15,517*

Now, compare those numbers to this staggering fact:

Since 1973, there have been 40+ Million abortions performed in the U.S. That is 4,000 abortions every single day...equaling an average of 1,460,000 babies killed PER YEAR. (See www.abortiontv.com for more information.)

Although terribly tragic, of all the statistics listed, comparatively, the war in Iraq has been one of the lowest mortality rates. — Jessica Miller, Aimee Herd, BCN.