Terrorism at Home

As I'm sure most of you know, President Bush gave two speeches this week to in an attempt rally support for the war in Iraq, one in Salt Lake City, UT and the other to a slew of reporters in Donnelly, ID. A third speech may also be given to military families in the suburb of Nampa, ID who have relatives in the war and have lost relatives due to the war. The President's ratings are quickly dropping as Americans express their negative opinions about the war in Iraq, yet President Bush continues to push ahead saying that a complete and immediate pullout would hurt both the developing democracy in Iraq, as well as America in general. While this may be true (only because we are so involved at this point, we have to stay to make sure everything is followed through), we have to consider that not all terrorists are from the Middle East and not all of them have the intentions of using car bombs, being suicide bombers or going as far as the terrorists did on September 11th. I think it would behoove President Bush to look at terrorism at home.

*Domestic Abuse:
-On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day. In 2000, 1,247 women were killed by an intimate partner. The same year, 440 men were killed by an intimate partner. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003)
-Approximately one in five female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. The study also found that abused girls are significantly more likely to get involved in other risky behaviors. They were four to six times more likely to get pregnant and eight to nine times more likely to have tried to commit suicide. (Jay G. Silverman, PhD; Anita Raj, PhD; Lorelei A. Mucci, MPH; and Jeanne E. Hathaway, MD, MPH, "Dating Violence Against Adolescent Girls and Associated Substance Use, Unhealthy Weight Control, Sexual Risk Behavior, Pregnancy, and Suicidality," Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 286, No. 5, 2001)
-For 30% of women who experience abuse, the first incident occurs during pregnancy. (Helton et al 1987)
-Nationally, Ninety-two percent of women say that reducing domestic violence and sexual assault should be a top priority of any formal efforts taken on behalf of women today, according to a new study by the Center for the Advancement of Women.

*Child Abuse:
-An estimated 896,000 children were determined to be victims of child abuse or neglect for 2002.
-More than 60 percent of child victims were neglected by their parents or other caregivers. Almost 20 percent were physically abused, 10 percent were sexually abused, and 7 percent were emotionally maltreated. In addition, almost 20 percent were associated with "other" types of maltreatment based on specific State laws and policies. A child could be a victim of more than one type of maltreatment.
-For 2002, an estimated 1,400 children died due to child abuse or neglect.
(The above statistics came from 2004 study/report done by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.)

*Sexual Abuse:
-In 2002-2003, there were an average of 223,280 victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault.
-In 2003 alone, there were 198,850 victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault. (2003 NCVS) Of these victims, about 81,000 were victims of completed rape, 61,060 were victims of attempted rape, and 80,910 were victims of sexual assault. Up to 4,065 pregnancies may have resulted from these attacks. (RAINN calculation based on 2003 NCVS and medical reports.)
-Every two and a half minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.

*Alcohol Abuse:
-About three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives. (NHTSA, 2001)
-Alcohol is closely linked with violence. About 40 percent of all crimes (violent and non-violent) are committed under the influence of alcohol. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1998)
-Approximately 18 million Americans — 8.5 percent of the population — meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse or alcoholism. (Grant, 2003)
-Of the general driving age public, 97 percent see drinking and driving as a threat to their personal safety, and 66 percent feel it is extremely important to do something to reduce the problem in terms of where tax dollars should be spent. (Gallup Organization, 2003)

*Drug Abuse:
-Between 1992 and 2002, substance abuse treatment admissions reporting tranquilizers as their primary substance of abuse to SAMHSA's Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) increased 79% from 4,600 admissions in 1992 to 8,300 in 2002.
-Based on SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2002 and 2003, an estimated 30.7 million persons aged 21 or older (16.6% of adult drivers) reported driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs during the past year. Among drivers aged 21 and older,15.7% had driven under the influence of alcohol during the past year, 4.3% had driven under the influence of illicit drugs, and 3% had driven under the combined influence of alcohol and drugs during the past year.
-Based on SAMHSA's 2002 and 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more than 5.9 million Americans aged 12 or older (2.5%) used cocaine in the past year.

These numbers are shocking to say the least. Is something being done about these issues? Sure, but can we see the difference? People don't always have the strength to help themselves. They need to know that others care about them, and they need help taking that first step. President Bush and his political cronies need to take a more role in preventing and treating these abuses, as well as educating the public about them.

At this point, I believe America has gone too far with the war in Iraq. If they didn't hate us enough before, they certainly will now. No matter how hard you try to find "weapons of mass destruction" in the Middle East, they will always make more and import them from somewhere else. From what I read while looking up these statistics, the "weapons of mass destruction" are not in the Middle East, they're right here in our own backyard.

Pirate fact: Though pirates would often exhaust their riches and treasures on food, rum and pleasure, there was plenty of work to be done before setting sail again. Barnacles and seaweed would have to be scraped from the bottom of the ship, the masts and sails would have to be repaired (if they were recently in a battle) and plenty of fresh food and water would have to be brought aboard.