In an article where the subtext is that war turns our soldiers into criminals, the New York Times notes that a couple of hundred veterans, including 121 from the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, have been accused and/or convicted of crimes involving killing.

The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.

Three-quarters of these veterans were still in the military at the time of the killing. More than half the killings involved guns, and the rest were stabbings, beatings, strangulations and bathtub drownings. Twenty-five offenders faced murder, manslaughter or homicide charges for fatal car crashes resulting from drunken, reckless or suicidal driving.

The conclusion we’re supposed to take away is that war turns our soldiers into murderers.  But there are a number of problems here.

First, the Times uses instances where soldiers were merely charged with a crime.  Does it still count if the soldier was acquitted?  What happened to “innocent until proven guilty?”

Second, 121 soldiers out of all the soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan is a number so low as to be statistically irrelevant.  According to this Global Security article, as of 2005 some 1,048,884 soldiers had served in Iraq.  If we extrapolate that number out to include the last two years we hit about 1.5 million.  Using that figure, we can conclude that the 121 veterans who have been charged and sometimes convicted of killing represent 0.000081% of Iraq war veterans.  That percentage would be far lower if we included Afghanistan veterans as well, though that number is hard to quantify as there are many soldiers who have served in both wars.  Again, though, we can safely conclude that the number of soldiers convicted of killing is statistically insignificant.

Third, the rate of killers among veterans is only slightly higher than the rate of killers among the overall population.  According to Department of Justice numbers, in 2006 0.000057% of the US population was convicted of murder or non-negligent homicide.  That’s lower than the rate we arrive at for Iraq war veterans using the New York Times numbers, but lets remember that the Times counted instances were veterans were merely charged and not convicted.  That inflates the total for veterans.  Also remember that most veterans are males, and that males are more likely to commit murder than females.  This also inflates the numbers for veterans.  Conclusion?  I think it’s safe to say that your average veteran is no more likely to murder you than the average American citizen.

The New York Times ought to be ashamed of itself for printing this drivel.  It’s clearly politically motivated, and the subtext of the article - that war is turning our soldiers into criminal killers - just isn’t factual.  This is a slander upon the reputation of our brave soldiers, but sadly that isn’t something all that surprising when you consider the source.