US military deaths in Iraq at 2,500

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of U.S. military deaths
in Iraq has reached 2,500, the Pentagon said on Thursday, more
than three years into a conflict that finds U.S. and allied
forces locked in a struggle with a resilient insurgency.

In addition, the Pentagon said 18,490 U.S. troops have been
wounded in the war, which began in March 2003 with a U.S.-led
invasion to topple President Saddam Hussein. Of the 2,500
deaths, the Pentagon said, 1,972 have come in combat and 528 in
noncombat circumstances such as vehicle accidents or suicides.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed with some
estimates of the toll reaching close to 40,000. Sectarian
violence surged after February’s bombing of a Shi’ite shrine in
Samarra, with hundreds of people killed every month in Baghdad
alone.

“It’s important to remember that there is a mission, and
there is a greater good which sometimes necessitates tremendous
sacrifice,” said Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, deputy director
for regional operations for the military’s Joint Staff who
formerly commanded U.S. forces in northern Iraq.

“Rather than focus on an aggregate number, I think it’s
more important for us to remember that there are individuals in
that aggregate number … to whom we should be very, very
grateful, and to their families,” Ham said.

There are currently 127,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

In addition to U.S. deaths, 113 British troops have been
killed, along with an equal number of other foreign troops.

President George W. Bush’s central justification for the
war was to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. No such
weapons were found.

ADAPTIVE, RESILIENT INSURGENCY

On an average day in the war, about two U.S. troops are
killed. The average monthly death toll is 64.

Defense analysts noted that U.S. deaths in Iraq, while
significant, are far fewer than in the other protracted U.S.
wars since World War Two — the Vietnam War where 58,000 U.S.
troops died, or the Korean War where 54,000 died.

Roadside bombs, known by the military as improvised
explosive devices, or IEDs, are the biggest cause of U.S.
casualties. Ham said despite good progress in detecting
roadside bombs and insurgents responsible for making and
planting them, the number of these attacks has increased over
the past several months.

The steadily mounting U.S. toll reflects an insurgency that
has not buckled despite facing a military superpower.

“They’ve been very adaptive and resilient,” said Ted
Carpenter of the Cato Institute think tank. “That’s one of the
chief problems that an intervening force faces in any
counterinsurgency war. You’re fighting on the adversary’s home
turf and essentially all the enemy has to do is to out-wait the
intervening power.”

Military medical experts say the U.S. toll would be even
higher if not for advances in medical care and body armor that
often saves the lives of badly wounded troops who would have
died in previous wars.

They point to: advances in body armor, with torso armor
protecting the chest and abdomen, heart and lungs and helmets
protecting the brain; improved in-country surgical capabilities
allowing patients to be stabilized and quickly flown out of
Iraq; and better prepared battlefield medics.

U.S. fatalities had dropped in five straight months through
this March, as insurgents appeared to focus more on Iraqi
civilians and Iraqi government security forces. But the U.S.
toll in April and May was above average, and the Pentagon has
acknowledged a recent surge in insurgent violence.