Republican representative Tim Walberg is taking some heat for allegedly comparing Detroit to Iraq. Although his quote is being twisted to make it seem worse than it was, I’ve worked up in Detroit for the better part of 2 years and I can honestly say that’s exactly how I’ve described it to folks who’ve never been there.

First, here’s what Walberg said:

He said most of Iraq “is reasonably under control, at least as well as Detroit.”

He’s referring to the fact the corrupt Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has a show of force on the streets, but the city still ranks among the top cities for crime.

But when I refer to Detroit as a war zone, it’s not so much because of the crime, but rather the way downtown looks. Anyone familiar with Detroit knows that one trip on the People Mover and you’ll get off feeling like you’d just taken a tour around the Green Zone.

See if you can figure out which pictures below come from downtown Detroit or downtown Baghdad (answers at the bottom of the post):

Answer: They’re all from downtown Detroit.