US military death toll in Iraq hits 4,000

Source: Bernama, World
March 25, 2008 09:31 AM

US military death toll in Iraq hits 4,000

AFP Photo
Graphic charting the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq each year since 2003. The US military death toll in Iraq has hit 4,000 after the death of four soldiers in a Baghdad bomb attack which the White House said on Monday had left President George W. Bush grieving.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US military death toll in Iraq has hit 4,000 after the slaying of four soldiers in Baghdad, prompting President George W. Bush to send his "deepest sympathies" to the bereaved families on Monday.The four were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in south Baghdad late on Sunday, a US military statement said, adding that another soldier was wounded by the blast."I offer our deepest sympathies to their families," Bush said, vowing "to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain," on what he called a "day of reflection" honouring the US war dead. The chaotic conflict, now in its sixth year, has killed 4,000 US soldiers and wounded more than 29,000, according to an AFP tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said earlier Bush mourned the loss of every single soldier killed since the conflict started in 2003."And he bears the responsibility for the decisions that he made and he also bears the responsibility to continue to focus on succeeding." Perino said it "may be possible" Bush will decide by Friday on a future drawdown of troops after an ongoing drawdown ends by July.But the top US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus and Defence Secretary Robert Gates favour a pause before any further withdrawal.Perino said it was "not unlikely" that Bush would accept a pause after July, saying: "The president thinks that there's some merit in that recommendation."The icasualties.org website, based only on published reports, shows that around 8,000 members of the Iraqi security forces have also been killed since the March 2003 invasion. At least 97 percent of the deaths occurred after Bush announced the end of "major combat" in Iraq on May 1, 2003, as the military became caught between a raging anti-US insurgency and sectarian strife unleashed after Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime was overthrown.According to the icasualties.org website, 81.3 percent of military deaths were in attacks by Al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters, Sunni insurgent groups loyal to Saddam or radical Shiite militias. The remainder died in non-combat related incidents. Roadside bombs caused most of the fatalities, with gunfire the second biggest killer. The US dead include 102 servicewomen.The military death toll is a key issue for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as they battle to be the Democrat candidate in this year's US presidential election. Both want US troops out of Iraq."It is past time to end this war that should never have been waged by bringing our troops home, and finally pushing Iraq's leaders to take responsibility for their future," Obama said in a statement on Monday.Clinton also promised to bring the troops home. "I have looked those men and women in the eye. I have made that promise. And I intend to honour it by bringing a responsible end to this war, and bringing our troops home safely," she said.The deadliest war for the US military, apart from the two world wars, has been Vietnam, with 58,000 soldiers killed between 1964 and 1973 -- an average of 26 a day. On average just over two US soldiers die in Iraq every day.The icasualties.org statistics reveal that the deadliest year for the military in Iraq was 2007 when it lost 901 troops after a controversial "surge" which saw an extra 30,000 soldiers deployed in a bid to end the violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis. That figure compares with 486 deaths in 2003, the first year of the conflict, 849 in 2004, 846 in 2005 and 822 in 2006. This year 96 soldiers have died.American commanders in Iraq acknowledge that putting extra troops on the ground has exposed them to more attacks, but they also say it has helped curb violence and that attacks have dropped 60 percent since last June.Most attacks against US troops in the past five years were in just four of Iraq's 18 provinces. The western Sunni province of Anbar witnessed highest overall US casualties, with 1,282 losses, according to icasualties.org, followed by Baghdad with 1,255, Salaheddin with 376, and Diyala with 238.Over the past year attacks have fallen sharply in Anbar after local Sunnis joined forces with the US military to fight Al-Qaeda.According to the website, November 2004 was the deadliest month for the American military in Iraq. It lost 137 troops that month when it launched a massive assault to take back the Anbar city of Fallujah, then a Sunni insurgent bastion.The US military is also still searching for four soldiers missing in Iraq -- two since since May last year, another since October 2006 and the fourth since April 2004.Meanwhile the remains of two American security contractors kidnapped more than a year ago have been found in Iraq, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in Washington on Monday. © AFP 2008

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