WASHINGTON —

U.S. President George W Bush pledged Monday to ensure “an outcome that will merit the sacrifice” of those who have died in Iraq, offering both sympathy and resolve as the U.S. death toll in the five-year war hit 4,000.

The U.S. military death toll in Iraq hit 4,000 after the slaying of four soldiers in Baghdad, prompting Bush to send his “deepest sympathies” to the bereaved families on Monday.

The four were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in south Baghdad late on Sunday, a U.S. military statement said, adding that another soldier was wounded by the blast.

“I offer our deepest sympathies to their families,” Bush said, vowing “to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain,” on what he called a “day of reflection” honoring the US war dead.

The chaotic conflict, now in its sixth year, has killed 4,000 U.S. soldiers and wounded more than 29,000, according to a tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said earlier Bush mourned the loss of every single soldier killed since the conflict started in 2003.

“And he bears the responsibility for the decisions that he made and he also bears the responsibility to continue to focus on succeeding.”

Perino said it “may be possible” Bush will decide by Friday on a future drawdown of troops after an ongoing drawdown ends by July.

But the top U.S. commander in Iraq General David Petraeus and Defense Secretary Robert Gates favor a pause before any further withdrawal.

Perino said it was “not unlikely” that Bush would accept a pause after July, saying: “The president thinks that there’s some merit in that recommendation.”

The icasualties.org website, based only on published reports, shows that around 8,000 members of the Iraqi security forces have also been killed since the March 2003 invasion.

At least 97% of the deaths occurred after Bush announced the end of “major combat” in Iraq on May 1, 2003, as the military became caught between a raging anti-U.S. insurgency and sectarian strife unleashed after Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime was overthrown.

According to the icasualties.org website, 81.3% of military deaths were in attacks by al-Qaida in Iraq fighters, Sunni insurgent groups loyal to Saddam or radical Shiite militias.

The remainder died in non-combat related incidents. Roadside bombs caused most of the fatalities, with gunfire the second biggest killer.

The U.S. dead include 102 servicewomen.

The military death toll is a key issue for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as they battle to be the Democrat candidate in this year’s U.S. presidential election. Both want U.S. troops out of Iraq.

“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,” Obama said in a statement on Monday.

Clinton also promised to bring the troops home.

“I have looked those men and women in the eye. I have made that promise. And I intend to honour it by bringing a responsible end to this war, and bringing our troops home safely,” she said.

The deadliest war for the U.S. military, apart from the two world wars, has been Vietnam, with 58,000 soldiers killed between 1964 and 1973—an average of 26 a day. On average just over two U.S. soldiers die in Iraq every day.

The icasualties.org statistics reveal that the deadliest year for the military in Iraq was 2007 when it lost 901 troops after a controversial “surge” which saw an extra 30,000 soldiers deployed in a bid to end the violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis.

That figure compares with 486 deaths in 2003, the first year of the conflict, 849 in 2004, 846 in 2005 and 822 in 2006.

This year 96 soldiers have died.

American commanders in Iraq acknowledge that putting extra troops on the ground has exposed them to more attacks, but they also say it has helped curb violence and that attacks have dropped 60% since last June.

The western Sunni province of Anbar witnessed highest overall U.S. casualties, with 1,282 losses, according to icasualties.org, followed by Baghdad with 1,255, Salaheddin with 376, and Diyala with 238.

Wire reports

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Latest 15 of 55 Total Comments Show All

• 

  flammenwerfer at 09:54 PM JST - 28th March

  FUBAR nah its more of a SNAFU these days.

• 

  DXXJP at 04:50 AM JST - 29th March

  Im wondering when the Iraqi lives will not be lost in vain,
  Or do they not count Mr dubya. Presumably your intention was to save the lives of said victims of your war machine.

• 

  rjd_jr at 06:18 AM JST - 29th March

  Here's the brilliant commander in chief speaking oh so eloquently again:

  Bush: Iraq violence a defining moment

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080328/apongoprwh/bush29;ylt=AlmdJd_yT.deWoD7.FEEdT8UewgF

  (Defining moment? Didn't he say that during the eve of the invasion? Or was it during the third year with mounting casualties. Or perhaps it was when Zarqawi was killed? Or darnit, maybe he said it during the surge. Or better yet, perhaps all of the above? Folks, this tragic comedy of errors is a farce)

• 

  Bogi at 11:29 PM JST - 29th March

  Well, I guess the more American lives that are lost, the more Americans will realize what a big mistake going to war was.

  So in that sense, yes, "not in vain."

• 

  Sarge at 11:41 PM JST - 29th March

  "Well, I guess the more American lives that are lost, the more Americans will realize what a big mistake going to war was"

  Or, the more Americans will realize that freedom isn't free. So in that sense, yes, "not in vain."

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  franz75 at 12:03 AM JST - 30th March

  "freedom isn’t free"

  yap, especially when it's based on lies, egocentrism and big money.

• 

  Madverts at 12:17 AM JST - 30th March

  Freedom, uh, sarge?

  Who's freedom are "you" fighting for again over there?

• 

  Nessie at 06:19 AM JST - 30th March

  FreedomTM isn't free. It costs freedom.

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  DXXJP at 07:13 AM JST - 30th March

  Sarge

  Im wondering when you will be moving to Iraq. I mean your in japan now, and that cost how many US lives. Remember when they would kill you without remorse and Togo lived in his many luxurious palaces.

  So by your theory which died in Vain WW2 or current MIL personal?. Which freedom cost more?.

• 

  Sarge at 07:32 AM JST - 30th March

  Madverts - "( Whose ) freedom are "you" fighting for again over there?"

  ( sigh ) Our freedom, including your freedom to ask impertinent questions like that one.

  BTW, Madverts, I like the addition of the "M" to your handle.

• 

  rjd_jr at 10:49 AM JST - 30th March

  I think many of you are too hard on Sarge. He believes in the right things and his heart is in the right place. I believe in the same things but have become disillusioned at the poor handling of this mess.

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  jeancolmar at 10:55 AM JST - 30th March

  4000 lives down the toilet.

  That's the truth that is hard to swallow but that is the truth. The war was necessary. Saddam was not a danger and he had no ties to Islamic extremists (generically referred to as al Qaeda), had nothing to do with 9/11 and did not try to kill Bush the First. After the Kuwait disaster he tried to be a good little neighborhood dictator, oppressing his people but bothering no one. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

  Lies, lies and more lies spread by Bush and his gang started this immoral, illegal and ill-fated war.

  If you have somehow suffered because of this evil war you have my sympathies. Those sufferings were unnecessary.

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  Sarge at 11:56 AM JST - 30th March

  Out of 4,313 coalition deaths in Iraq, 4005 are American. According to my calculations, that's 93%. The vast majority of these 4,005 deaths are after May 1, 2003 when Bush officially declared an end to major combat operations. Agree or diagree with the liberation of Iraq or the legality of it, the fact is Americans have borne a grossly unfair brunt of deaths in the fight against evil men in Iraq.

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  mareo2 at 02:58 PM JST - 30th March

  Freedom. Hmmm... For Irakis dependeds on who you ask.

  If you ask to the Kurds is freedom for the kurds in Irak, Turkey and Iran. So if you support their freedom, then maybe you support their terrorists... ops..! freedom fighters acting in Turkey and Iran and the separatists in Irak.

  If you ask to the Sunies, maybe is their freedom from the Shiites.

  If you ask to the Shiites, maybe is freedom from the Sunies.

  And if you ask to the nationalists, can be freedom from foreigner influence, the US or Iran or Al-Qaida or maybe two or all of them.

  Honestly, today Irak is so divided and so many are mesing with their internal affaires that is dificult say that all of them think that freedom means fight the same enemy.

  Freedom? High word that sounds like just PR in the ears of common citizens. I guess that the majority of the normal people just want that others stop manipulate them. More than talk aboit freedom I think that is just about bring security, the rest is useless rethoric.

  The fact that the US cant give control to Irak's forces, is because the generals are afraid of give heavy weapons, aircrafts and other things like advanced comunications to armed forces that can turn against the american soldiers or just make a civil war even more bloodie (sounds logic to me). So, until things get more stable, send another "surge" of 30.000 for pacificate Basra and maybe in 2018 the US can get out of Irak.

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  timorborder at 03:24 PM JST - 31st March

  "Freedom isn't free"

  Yes it is - when somebody else is doing the dying for you.

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