As 2006 came to an end, the steadily rising toll of U.S. troops killed in Iraq hit another grim milestone: 3,000 dead.
The latest marker came Sunday as President Bush prepared to lay out his proposals for changing U.S. strategy in Iraq. Bush has been meeting with advisers at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and White House officials have said he could announce his plans this week.
Bush appears to be leaning toward a troop increase. Some advisers believe more troops could enable U.S.-led forces to tamp down the sectarian war that the Pentagon has identified as the main source of instability in Iraq. Others, including some ranking U.S. commanders and many members of Congress, believe that sending more U.S. troops to Iraq would only worsen the situation by reducing the pressure on Iraq’s warring parties to settle their differences.
Asked about the latest death toll, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Bush “grieves for each one” and “will ensure their sacrifice was not made in vain.”
Since the summer, U.S. commanders have increased the number of troops in Baghdad in an effort to quell the civil war there with stepped-up patrols. That effort has had little impact on the violence but has increased the number of U.S. troops killed in the capital.
In that regard, the most recently announced deaths were typical of many in recent months: The Pentagon said that Spec. Dustin Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad. The U.S. military command in Baghdad announced that another, still unidentified, soldier died Saturday, also in the capital, when a roadside bomb exploded near his patrol. The military typically delays announcements of deaths to allow relatives to be notified first.
Overall, the rate of military fatalities has remained relentless for 2 1/2 years, since the insurgency against the U.S. occupation of Iraq began to pick up strength in 2004. The U.S. invasion in the spring of 2003 took the lives of 140 American troops. Then, after an initial lull, the 1,000th death was announced in September 2004, and the 2,000th in October 2005.
U.S. casualties continue to be eclipsed by the death toll among Iraqis. At least 5,900 Iraqi police and soldiers have died since 2003, according to the Iraq Index, a database issued by the Brookings Institution think tank. Estimates of civilian death tolls have ranged widely, from tens of thousands to more than half a million.
The 3,000th U.S. military death comes in the wake of the execution of deposed president Saddam Hussein, an event that military leaders believe will lead to more attacks against U.S. troops, at least in the short run.
The U.S. military took no official notice of the 3,000 figure, and some commanders played down the number of fatalities. U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway said in an interview that, given the significance of Iraq and Afghanistan to U.S. national security, the death toll in those two countries has not been excessive. On average, slightly more than two U.S. military personnel die in Iraq every day compared to 300 or more a day during World War II, he said.
But the intensity of the fighting and the sense that many American troops are caught in the crossfire of a civil war have helped undermine public support for the war. On Sunday, two prominent Republican senators said in television interviews that they were skeptical of sending more U.S. troops to Iraq.
“The administration needs to identify precisely where the battle lines are–who is it we combat. I haven’t seen such lines,” said Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, departing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who just returned from the Middle East, said he, too, had not seen the administration lay out a compelling case for troop increases. Lugar spoke on “Fox News Sunday” and Specter on CNN’s “Late Edition.”
Anthony Cordesman, a military expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, wrote in a public letter last week that the fighting is more intense than the death toll implies.
New protective measures and medical advances reduce the number of deaths, but not the difficulty of the war, he said, noting that the total of U.S. killed and wounded reached 25,000 in mid-December.
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U.S. deaths in Iraq
A closer look at U.S. military statistics in the Iraq war:
– Number who have died since major combat ended April 30, 2003: 2,861
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– Months with the most deaths: November 2004: 137; April 2004: 135; December 2006: 111
– Percentages by service branch: Army: 68 percent; Marines: 29 percent; Navy: 2 percent; Air Force: 1 percent
– Percent of deaths that were non-hostile: 20 percent
– Percentage killed by an improvised explosive device in the last year: 44 percent
– Percent who were officers: 10 percent
– Percent of the dead who were women: 2 percent
– Number older than 45: 70
– Number who were age 18: 26
NOTE: Numbers are based on counts by the Department of Defense and the Associated Press.