I am much too lazy to come up with an explanation for this:

Death Rate of Iraq: 5.49 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death Rate of USA: 8.25 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Yet the MSM breathlessly publishes daily body counts in Iraq while it is hard to find similar stories about the US.

I found this story about murder rates in the US. It has a "rah-rah, rates are going down" tone to parts of it which is 180 degrees from reporting on Iraq:

Philadelphia also has fewer murders today than it did in 1990, when 503 people were killed. But the decline is nowhere near as sharp as it is in other cities: 34% fewer murders from 1990 to 2004, compared with a 75% drop in New York and a 48% decline in both Los Angeles and Chicago.

Then there is this story:

But the declining percentages show that the uptick in killings may have been temporary. Contributing heavily to the decline in big city murder rates is Chicago, where 448 people were slain in 2004 compared with 598 in 2003. That's nearly a 25% decrease.

Compare the reporting and then check the above stats again.

I am not saying that things are just rosy in Iraq, far from it, but a little perspective is in order.

Linked to: basil's blog, MacBros' Place and Stray Dog Found

Update: Since posting this, AP changed the headline from "29 Killed in Iraq" to "Dozens of Insurgents Captured in Iraq". Just in case you thought me raving mad.