U.S. toll in Iraq hits 3,000

BAGHDAD, Iraq — 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 think more troops could allow 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, think 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 sectarian fighting with stepped-up patrols. That effort has had little effect 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 Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, had been killed Thursday by small-arms fire in Baghdad. The U.S. military command here announced that another, still unidentified, soldier had 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 more than 2 ½ 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. 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 Brookings Institution think tank. Estimates of civilian death tolls have ranged widely, from tens of thousands up to more than half a million.

The 3,000th U.S. military death follows the execution of deposed President Saddam Hussein, an event that military leaders think 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 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. troops 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 U.S. troops are caught in the crossfire of a civil war have helped undermine public support for the war. Sunday, two prominent Republican senators said 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, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Sen. Arlen Specter, who just returned from a trip to 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, D.C., said in a public letter last week that the fighting is more intense than the death toll implies.

New protective measures and advances in military medicine 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.

More than 24,800 additional troops sustained noncombat-related injuries — vehicle crashes, illnesses and other accidents — serious enough to require air transport.

Attacks against U.S. and Iraqi security forces are increasing. The military does not release specific numbers, but the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan government committee convened to find new approaches to the conflict, reported last month that total attacks averaged 180 per day in October, up from 70 per day in January.

Military commanders agree that the number of U.S. deaths would be far greater but for improved defenses. U.S. combat vehicles employ a variety of signal jammers to intercept remotely detonated roadside bombs, and U.S. troops rarely leave their bases in anything less than an armored Humvee.

Many U.S. troops have also added more body armor, adding bullet-resistant plates to protect their sides and high Kevlar collars to protect their necks.

But the steady rate of casualties is evidence that insurgents also adapt. In the northern city of Kirkuk, some U.S. military mess halls have posted boards showing the types of wires insurgents use to detonate bombs manually and avoid signal jammers.

"These guys are not dumb. They morph based on our operations," said U.S. Col. Patrick T. Stackpole, an army brigade commander in Kirkuk. "They're constantly changing up their ability to get money, to get different types of weapons, their tactics with IEDs, with small-arms fire. They adapt to any new technique."

In Fallujah, snipers killed three Marines last week. Though not as prevalent as roadside-bomb attacks, sniper attacks have become a persistent problem for U.S. troops. U.S. military officials said snipers occasionally hide in the trunks of cars and fire at Humvee gunners through peepholes.

The weapon U.S. troops fear the most, however, is the shaped-charge bomb, which is fashioned to direct explosions in a deadly cone of metal and concussive force powerful enough to punch through a tank.

The most dangerous part of Iraq for U.S. troops remains Anbar province in the western deserts, where more than 1,000 U.S. troops have died since 2003. Almost 800 troops have died in Baghdad. The third-worst province is Salahuddin, where nearly 300 U.S. troops have died — and where Saddam's body was buried Sunday.

At least 111 American troops have been killed in December, making it the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the battle for Fallujah in November 2004. Overall, at least 820 U.S. military personnel were killed in 2006.

Los Angeles Times reporter Mohammed Rashid in Baghdad contributed to this story.