How does the ratio of deaths caused by motor vehicles per year in the
United States compare to the ratio of American deaths in Iraq over the
last year?
In other words, is it safer to drive a car in the U.S. than it is to fight in Iraq?
And what are these ratios?

Hello and thank you for your question.

The fatality rate for drivers in the U.S. is 1.51 fatalities per 100
million vehicle miles, or 14.85 fatalities per 100,000 population.
Fatality Analysis Reporting System
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/

The American death toll in Iraq to date is 394.
Casualties
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/
http://209.11.49.220/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2016475

CNN shows 248,000 total deployment orders through March, 2003.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/coalition/deployment/byweek.html
The United States currently has about 132,000 troops in Iraq.
US to Cut Troop Strength
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7796485%255E1702,00.html

Based on the 248,000 and 132,000 figures, and since only limited
numbers of US soldiers have completed tours of duty and returned home,
we'll say that 300,000 Americans have spent time in Iraq during the
year, putting the death rate at 394/300,000 or 131 per 100,000.

So an American in Iraq faces about 9.4 times (131/14.85) the risk of
death in Iraq compared to the average driver at home, on a population
basis.

The American murder rate is 6.8 per 100,000, about one-twentieth of
the 131 figure for Iraq.

As Answerguru-ga notes below, this is a flawed comparison, but that is
one way of looking at the figures.

Search terms used
automobile fatalities
iraq troop strength
us murder rate

Sincerely,
Google Answers Researcher
Richard-ga

This seems to be a flawed comparison:

1. You're not considering the difference in the number of drivers in
the US vs. the number of US personnel in Iraq.

2. Not everyone in the US drives a motor vehicle but is still at risk
of being killed by one (passengers, pedestrians).

3. The amount of 'susceptible time' is not being considered - military
personnel are typically posted in Iraq for a specific duration while
US drivers are (typically) in the US and driving for the majority of
the year in general.

You might consider these points to reformulate your question.

answerguru-ga