University of Florida News

Wednesday’s murder of six people at Chicago’s Windy City Core Supply is the latest in a depressingly familiar string of reminders of this country’s greatest pathology — homicide. About 16,000 people will be murdered this year. Our homicide rate in 2001, the latest year for which nationwide figures are available, was 5.6 per 100,000, compared to only 1.6 in England and Wales. Other Western European nations exhibit similarly low levels of lethal violence.

American indifference to Iraqi society and values is proving calamitous. That’s because American authorities remain dismissive of Middle Eastern culture, in which the powerful and ancient code of honor determines behavior and ideals. That code fuels the enmity of our opponents throughout the Arab world. Yet Washington policymakers seem oblivious to Arab motivationn and how best to deal with resistance to American peacekeeping.