The daily tally of innocent victims in the Middle East – dead Lebanese children, dead Israeli children, dead Iraqi children – has provoked the world’s anger, tears and futile demands for peace.

American children, meanwhile, are perishing, too, although they don’t command the kind of attention reserved for a far-off war. And the perpetrators aren’t warlords and politicians, they’re parents and other caregivers.

The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) reports that 1,400 children died in this country in 2002, directly or indirectly because of child abuse or neglect. Neglect, by the way, accounted for one-third of those deaths. Between 2000 and 2002, the fatality count rose from 1.84 per 100,000 children to 1.98 – a 7.6 percent increase.

What’s worse, some studies indicate the figures might be understated by as much as 50 percent because of cases that are misreported as accidents, sudden infant death syndrome, or other explanations that don’t get adequate investigation. About 40 percent of victims are younger than 1 year old.

Disturbing as they are, columns of such numbers don’t arrest the attention the way those graphic television images from the combat zones do. Incident by incident, they may capture emotional attention in the communities where they happen, but they fade in time.

In Coeur d’Alene last week, 13-month-old Kylla Pahl died from burns suffered in a fire that broke out when she was alone in her house. When she was born, the state of Idaho took her away from her mother, Megan Longoria, because both of them tested positive for methamphetamine. After the fire, the mother reportedly told police she’d used meth two days earlier. The house was littered with trash, dirty diapers and dog feces.

Coeur d’Alene police wanted the mother charged with involuntary manslaughter, but Prosecutor Bill Douglas is waiting for test results and interviews before making a decision.

Even if Kylla isn’t included in the national data report cited above, there is no shortage of other cases to keep the numbers up.

A Florida couple was arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated child abuse after the women’s emaciated 9-year-old daughter was found in June, weighing 42 pounds, locked up all day long and forced to wear a dirty diaper.

In Stevens County, a woman now faces charges in connection with the death of her 7-year-old adopted son, previously a foster child, who died in January 2005 of dehydration.

Meanwhile, in Idaho, Washington and other states, the need for suitable foster homes keeps rising and the supply keeps falling. In Washington, foster parents are talking about forming a union.

Last month, President Bush signed a sweeping federal bill that creates a variety of ways to keep better track of child molesters. That’s a worthy objective, but it does nothing to prevent the threat posed by child abusers masquerading as caregivers.

It’s a grim world. People who grieve for children have limited options: Turn off the TV, hug their kids, be alert to child abuse wherever they see it (even down the block) – and demand that children endangered in their own homes get their share of attention from local, state and federal lawmakers.