Iraq war deaths plunged in '08

BAGHDAD — U.S. military deaths in Iraq plunged by two-thirds in 2008 from the previous year, a reflection of the improving security following the U.S. military's counterinsurgency campaign and al-Qaida's slow retreat from the battlefield.

But the deaths of two soldiers on the last day of the year underscored that significant violence persists. One soldier was killed by a mortar round in Baghdad and the other died from wounds sustained in combat a day earlier in Tikrit, the military said.

By comparison, the war in Afghanistan saw U.S. military deaths rise by 35 percent in 2008 as Islamic extremists shift their focus to a new front with the West.

According to a tally by The Associated Press, at least 314 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq in 2008, down from 904 in the previous year. In all, at least 4,221 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since the war began in 2003.

In Afghanistan, 151 U.S. soldiers died in 2008, compared with 111 in the previous year, according to an AP tally. The count recorded 1,160 civilians killed in insurgency-related violence, up from 875. At least 625 U.S. soldiers have died because of the war in Afghanistan since the fighting began in 2001. The AP count is based on figures from Afghan, U.S. and NATO officials.

The combined total of at least 465 U.S. deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan for 2008 is the lowest combined total for both wars since 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq.

Many critics have said the U.S. focus on Iraq led it to neglect the war in Afghanistan, allowing both al-Qaida and Taliban extremists to regroup after being routed in 2001. The Taliban, in the last year, moved into wide swaths of Afghan countryside, where Afghan security forces or international troops don't operate. Military commanders in Baghdad say they have enough troops to win all battles but not enough to hold territory, or to keep remote villages safe.

Seth Jones, an analyst with the RAND Corp., said he thinks the insurgency is still quite weak because there is no central command structure and because it doesn't have the support of local Afghans. But levels of violence have increased because of the continuing use of sanctuaries by extremist groups in Pakistan.

The plunge in violence in Iraq follows the U.S. buildup of troops in 2007, coupled with a counterinsurgency campaign that included a decision by Sunni tribesmen to switch allegiances and fight al-Qaida. A focused effort to rout Shiite extremists gave U.S. and Iraqi forces the upper hand.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. David Perkins said recently that attacks in Iraq had declined to an average of 10 a day from 180 a year ago, and the murder rate in November was less than 1 per 100,000 people — far lower than many cities in the world.