Brit Hume, Mr. Persnickety: Okay, here's Hume on how Iraq is no more dangerous than California (he says the two are roughly the same size):

"Two hundred and seventy seven U.S. soldiers have now died in Iraq, which means that, 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 2,300 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 are incurring about 1.7, including illness and accidents, each day."

I think this is sort of besides the point, but thanks Mr. Hume (or rather your intern) for this information.