[Cross posted at Scru Hoo]

No surprise here. According to the Associated Press, the poorest, most rural parts of America are footing an unfair share of the war's human costs.

Many of the hometowns of the war dead aren't just small, they're poor. The AP analysis found that nearly three quarters of those killed in Iraq came from towns where the per capita income was below the national average. More than half came from towns where the percentage of people living in poverty topped the national average.

If you want to see how it affects Cleveland County, NC, go below the fold to watch the one-minute clip of 18-year-old Chris Nalley. He was videotaped last month (for his support of Senator John Edwards.) He has no relatives overseas, yet he understands the price his schoolmates are paying.

Chris goes to Crest High School in Shelby, North Carolina, estimated 2005 population: 21,263; median income: 41,067. The 2005 national median income: $46,326.

There's a "basic unfairness" about the number of troops dying in Iraq who are from rural areas, said William O'Hare, senior visiting fellow at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute, which examines rural issues.

Diminished opportunities are one factor in higher military enlistment rates in rural areas. From 1997 to 2003, 1.5 million rural workers lost their jobs due to changes in industries like manufacturing that have traditionally employed rural workers, according to the Carsey Institute.

Rural communities are "being asked to pay a bigger price for this military adventure, if I can use that word, than their urban counterparts," O'Hare said.

As a result, in more than a thousand small towns across the country - from Glendive, Mont., to Barnwell, S.C., to Caledonia, Miss., and from Hardwick, Vt., to Clinton, Ohio - friends and families have been left struggling to make sense of a loved one's death in Iraq. It's a struggle that hits with a special intensity in tight-knit, small towns.

"In a small community, even if you don't know somebody's name you at least know their face, you've seen them before, talked to them maybe," said Chuck Bevington, whose 22-year-old brother Allan, from Beaver Falls, Pa., died in Iraq, after volunteering for a second tour. "A small community feels it a lot tighter because they've had more contact with each other."

Small town America may not be populated by the types of people who march on Washington. On the other hand, small town residents like Chris Nalley don't seem the type to ignore the obvious, that the war is "prolonged agony."

These are people's lives. It's families that you're talking about. One life makes a lot of difference.