FBI: Violent Crimes in U.S. Near 5-year Peak

With the Bush administration and Congress preoccupied with Iraq, there is little concern or resources given to fighting crime. There is nothing left for the Federal government to give to local governments so that they can pay for cops, courts, and bullets. It is unclear how much of the rise in crime have to do with the drugs coming from Mexico, and even Afghanistan (Heroin made from poppy grown in that country):

Violent crime rose nearly 2 percent last year, the FBI reported Monday in U.S. data that show a slightly higher increase than expected.

[...]The new numbers confirm that crime rates continued on a two-year upward trend after a relative lull in violence between 2002 and 2004.

[...]A five-year look at crime rates show that the number of murders, robberies, rapes and other violent offenses committed in 2006 is returning to the peak reached in 2002. Crime dropped dramatically after that, the FBI data show.