U.S. Death Toll In Iraq Hits 4,000

Casualty Milestones Are Arbitrary But Draw Attention To The Human Cost Of The War

(CBS/AP)  The White House said Monday it was "a sober moment" as the U.S. death toll in Iraq climbed to 4,000. President George W. Bush received a lengthy update on the war and aides said he was likely to embrace recommendations for a pause in troop withdrawals beyond those already scheduled.

Bush was to participate in a two-hour conference by secure video hookup with Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Petraeus and Crocker are due to testify in Congress on April 8-9.

Petraeus is expected to recommend no additional troop reductions in Iraq beyond those already scheduled, until at least September. This so-called pause in drawdowns, lasting a month or two, would be designed to assess the impact of this round, with the expectation that the drawdown would resume before Bush leaves office in January.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush sees "some merit" in that idea. "I think that's not unlikely," she said. She said Bush is under "no deadline" to make a decision about troop levels before leaving next week for a NATO summit in Romania.

Perino said that Bush spends time every day thinking about those who have lost their lives in battle.

"He bears the responsibility for the decisions that he made," Perino said. "He also bears the responsibility to continue to focus on succeeding."

Perino said families of the fallen soldiers often tell the president that they want him to complete the mission in Iraq.

With the war entering its sixth year, Bush makes the argument that defeating extremists in Iraq makes it less likely that Americans will encounter enemies at home. Iraq has taken a heavy toll on his presidency, contributing to Bush's low poll ratings.

Perino, though, said that the security gains of the past year have been important to stabilizing Iraq.

Bush also is to receive briefings Monday at the State Department and on Wednesday at the Pentagon "on what actions his advisers recommend for cementing those gains and taking action that will lay the foundation for further additional troop drawdowns," Perino added.

A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday, the military said, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000. The grim milestone came on a day when at least 61 people were killed across the country.

Rockets and mortars pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone, underscoring the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shiite extremist groups despite an overall lull in violence.

The soldiers with Multi-National Division - Baghdad were on a patrol when their vehicle was struck at about 10 p.m. in southern Baghdad, the military said. Another soldier was wounded in the attack.

Identities of those killed were withheld pending notification of relatives.

The president had no scheduled comments about the war on Monday.

Vice President Dick Cheney, in Jerusalem to push the Mideast peace process, said the 4,000th American death in Iraq may have a psychological impact on the American public.

"You regret every casualty, every loss," he said. "The president is the one that has to make that decision to send young men and women into harm's way. It never gets any easier."

In Baghdad, U.S. soldiers told CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan that they don't count the number of soldiers killed. Every single death is hard for them.

The leader of the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said Americans are asking how much longer their troops must sacrifice for an Iraqi government "that is unwilling or unable to secure its own future."

"Americans also understand that the cost of the war to our national security, military readiness and our reputation around the world is immense and that the threat to our economy — as the war in Iraq continues to take us deeper into debt — is unacceptable," Pelosi said.

Commenting on the 4,000 deaths, Perino said, "President Bush believes that every life is precious, and he spends time every day thinking about those who've lost their lives on the battlefield. He grieves for the families who have lost loved ones, and he is constantly concerned about their well-being."

"The president has said the hardest thing a commander in chief will do is send young men and women into combat, and he's grieved for every lost American life, from the very first several years ago to those lost today," the press secretary said.

The U.S. has about 158,000 troops in Iraq. That number is expected to drop to 140,000 by summer in drawdowns meant to erase all but about 8,000 troops from last year's increase.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, told a campaign audience in the state of Pennsylvania that she would honor the fallen by ending the war and bringing home U.S. troops "as quickly and responsibly as possible." Her rival for the nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, said "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."

[actornaught]

This is all w & the con''s war. The dems were totally lied to, just like the rest of us. "...i''ll only put the head in..."

There''s a special place in helll for w.

[wakeup60]

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME ON YOU ... "MR.BUSH"!!!
YOU SHOULD HAVE TO TAKE " NOCONSCIOUSATTOL " TO SLEEP...BUT YOU DON''T HAVE TOO...BECAUSE YOU DON''T HAVE ONE!Over 4000 now!Those are the kind of STATS THAT PLEASE YOU! It is your WAR...Be Proud in it!!! And McCain...another 100 years of it!You both need to be dropped off..right in the middle of Bagdad and see how you like "volunteering" yourselves... to DIE OR BE MAIMED,LEFT WITHOUT ANY ARMS AND LEGS, NO BRAINCELLS OR NO BRAIN ...BRING OUR KIDS HOME/NOW! & NOT IN A BOX!EACH AND EVERY NIGHT EVERY CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY SHOULD BE "MADE" TO WATCH EVERY PLANE THAT UNLOADS OUR "PRICELESS SOLDIERS" ON NATIONAL TV!! OUT OF SIGHT,OUT OF MIND,IS YOUR MOTTO,MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!SPEND THE BILLIONS HERE FOR OUR OWN,OUR HUNGRY, OUR HOMELESS, OUR SICK, OUR ELDERLY,NOT ON SOME COUNTRY THAT WE WERE "NOT" TO BE @ WAR WITH.ANYBODY OUT THERE STILL REMEMBER THE NAME:BIN LADEN? DON''T SEND THE FAKE TEXAN BACK DOWN HERE/REAL TEXANS DON''T CLAIM A "DUD" DUDE!

[ajmarine1]

Saddam was only executed a year ago, so he probably would still be in power today if the United States had not invaded Iraq, but he was not going to live forever. It%u2019s not possible to know what would have followed him had he stayed in power and died a natural death, but would it have involved hundreds of thousands of Iraqis tortured, shot or blown up? Would it have led to the permanent alienation of Sunnis and Shiites? Probably not. The number of Iraqis who were tortured and murdered by Saddam%u2019s security forces in the average year was in the thousands, no more than the monthly civilian death toll from sectarian violence in recent years. Occasionally, when there were uprisings against his rule, Saddam killed far more people, but the last time that happened was in 1991. Nine-tenths or more of the Iraqis who have been killed in the horrors of the past five years would probably still be alive if Saddam was still in power. So would four thousand American soldiers.

The real question is what will Iraq be like twenty years from now, and what would it have been like in twenty years if the United States had not invaded. But it can never be answered, because that alternative future was cancelled by the invasion.


http://tinyurl.com/yomvfz

[taylor2124]

Sorry guys, but Jackie is 99% correct. There are multiple independent web/news sites that corroborate the mass graves that Saddam created. In fact the figure may be closer to a million than 500,000. And J-Whitman, sorry, but you''re wrong too. The Iraqi people don''t LIKE the US troops there, but each time they are polled a narrow majority say they prefer we stay than leave, at least until stability is achieved. And the Iraqi government has made it 100% clear they want and need the US troops there. In fact, the only people who are voting to pull the US troops out are American voters and politicians, NOT the Iraqis. Lastly, there are no independent or reliable figures that show that the Americans have killed anywhere near the amount of Iraqis that Saddam did. It''s not even close. And, virtually all Iraqis killed have either been combatants or collateral and accidental deaths. Sorry, but you guys are just flat incorrect.

[j-whitman]

curse914,,,, I think it does indeed boil down to our Christain ideaologies...

We seem to have 3 seprate gods --- The Unitarian all forgiveing God, The intollerent Calvinist God of the Elect, & the Arminian God, who will cast people into the Lake of Fire who don''t accept Jesus.

Make no mistake about it; you are profoundly affected by how you understand these three belief systems in Christianity.

[prinzowhales]

Recently David Kay was castigating the German intelligence agency for the unreliability of "Curveball"...of course, no one in their right mind would have bought his story without doing the due diligence which, when it was done, effortlessly discredited this clown.

As I understand it, the Germans wouldn''t even let the CIA interview him. This is highly unusual and, I suspect, was more designed to protect the CIA than out of any real need. In any event, it served to protect the CIA from being accused of buying a pig in a poke on their own....all they had to do was point their finger elsewhere and they had a congress and executive branch full of ''patriots'' who would accept their explanation.

[j-whitman]

jackie0428,,,,, Containment is a Military Strategy - Not a Buzz Word

[prinzowhales]

Bush41 encouraged the Kurds and the Shi''ia to rebel and then left them hanging, letting up on Saddam so he could deal with the rebellions....No 500,000 Iraqis died under Saddam--unless you count the casualties in the Iran-Iraq war...in which the US supported Iraq...just as they supported Saddam when he took power in Iraq....Did you miss the wonderful snapshot of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein?--that should certainly have a page of its own in ''America''s Little Treasure Book of Imperial Memories.''

[joyous88]

jackie0428,

you are lieing, there is zero evidence that Saddam

was any worse than GW Bush, what do you think that Iraqis think of the americans and bush for occupying
and destroying their country,

hundreds of thousands dead

millions homeless, refugees,

Bush and the republiCONs responsible for it all.

we have become worse than saddam,

we torture

we kidnap,

we murder,

we bomb anything that moves, men ,women, and children

[j-whitman]

jackie0428,,,,, Contained in your opinion is just a buzz word. Our FBI & CIA discredited both Chalibi & Curveball before the invasion ---------- You say God Bless the troops ??? - Yet you support them with totally corrupt & incompetent failures. To me your doing nothing but damming our troops. While causing more distruction to our own country.

[prinzowhales]

The US supported Saddam Hussein in a war of aggression against Iran which flew in the face of international law (and, what doesn''t under the rule of those who would subject the people of this earth to the rule of the New World Order?). We provided illegal funding throught the Atlanta branch of an Italian bank.

[j-whitman]

jackie0428,,,,, I don''t need to go into the failures that have lead to the 5 years of lack of accomplishments - Those are self-evident

Neither the Sheiites or the Sunni''s want us there at all, they do want our money... But, invading Iraq not only opened the door for Al Queda, it gave Iran the authority to support the Sheiite government, which is what they want...... Iraq has to stand on it''s own & the people are ready to do just that.

McCain has no concept to get us out & his agressions against Iran is causing more radicalims & destabelization in the region.

[jackie0428]

J-whitman, yeah, that''s your opinion. And that word "contained" is a meaningless buzz word, contrived to rationalize inaction. It means nothing. And even if true, it just shows you care nothing about the 500,000+ people Hussein killed and dumped into mass graves. Meanwhile, libs like you worry more about whales and the rain forest than rows of Iraqi civilians who were mowed down with machine guns by a "contained" Saddam. You and all libs: pathetic and weak. You should be ashamed.

[prinzowhales]

jackie0428--Iraq invaded Iran with the backing of the Washington Regime which financed them and provided them with WMDs. Hussein invaded Kuwait to deal with the slant-drilling oil theives, the Sabah family and he got the tacit permission of our ambassador, April Glaspie before doing so.

Its little wonder that Bush had the Iraqi reports to the UN detailing his WMD suppliers held back from the American people.

[j-whitman]

jackie0428,,, Reguardless, Iraq was contained & our Pentagon said there was no credible evidence to take us into it...

IT WAS A NEEDLESS WAR OF AGRESSION THAT DESTRACTED FROM THE WAR ON TERROR - WE ARE MUCH LESS SAFE AS A DIRECT RESULT & OUR NATIONAL SECURITY & MILITARY ARE DAMAGED.

[prinzowhales]

curse914--And that farcical Drug War got really hammered when the Demopublicans increased Opium production in Afghanistan to record levels.

I''ve yet to hear the Demopublican leadership or candidates address the tons of cocaine found on two CIA planes that went down in Mexico that were tied to Bush contributors and renditions.

We support the INTERPOL-named narco-terrorist KLA in Serbia...We support the narco-regimes in Bogota and Mexico City and protect the one in Kabul with our blood and treasure.

[jackie0428]

Prinzowhales, calm down, take a deep breath. Perhaps you forgot your meds today. Sheesh.

[jackie0428]

J-Whitman, sorry, but you''re just wrong. I agree with MichaelT on this one. Iraq was an extremely agressive country. They had already invaded 2 of their neighbors(Kuwait and Iran) in the past , and they had been threatening to do so in Saudi Arabia as well. They also ignored over a dozen critical UN resolutions for over 10 years. There are some countries that only be dealt with by military force, and Iraq was clearly one of them. God bless the US military.

[rhmc430]

I just read that VP Cheney said, when asked about the deaths of 4000 U.S. Military personnel, "Well they
volunteered... How dare he!!! Not one of those 4000, nor the living members of the Armed Services, volunteered to die. They volunteered to fight for freedom. They all heard both Bush & Cheney tell us falsehood after falsehood about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction. They are still at it over Iran.
These two should be tried for the falsehoods they told us and still tell.
The Democrats should get their act together and finally stop the infighting and get to the meat of the matter of ending this war. I Must end this by saying again---HOW DARE HE!!!

[prinzowhales]

Obama says he going to keep sufficient troops in Iraq to protect that White Elephant of an embassy and provide ball boys for the diplomats playing there.

Considering the mortar attacks the Green Zone took for a whole day in surge protected Baghdad, he is apparently going to need a whole bunch. He''s also said that he will deploy combat troops if al Qaeda establishes a base there...well, al Qaeda is essentially anywhere Bush, Barney, Betrayus and friends say they are...