WASHINGTON — The White House signaled anew that additional troops won’t be pulled out soon, as President Bush said Monday the lives of 4,000 U.S. military men and women who have died in Iraq “were not lost in vain.”
A roadside bomb in Baghdad killed four U.S. soldiers Sunday night, pushing the U.S. military death toll to 4,000. The Associated Press count of 4,000 deaths is based on U.S. military reports and includes eight civilians who worked for the Department of Defense.
That number pales compared with those of other lengthy U.S. wars, but it is much higher than many Americans, including Bush, ever expected after the swift U.S. invasion of Iraq five years ago.
Bush proclaimed the end of major combat operations in Iraq in May 2003. Almost all the U.S. deaths there have happened since then.
“One day people will look back at this moment in history and say, ‘Thank God there were courageous people willing to serve, because they laid the foundations for peace for generations to come,’” Bush said after a State Department briefing about long-term diplomacy efforts.
“I have vowed in the past, and I will vow so long as I’m president, to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain — that, in fact, there is an outcome that will merit the sacrifice,” Bush said.
The White House emphasized that deaths are grieved no matter what the number. Bush said people are praying for the families of those killed whether they were among the first or the most recent casualties.
The news of 4,000 dead in Iraq came the week after the war entered its sixth year, dominating most of Bush’s presidency. Almost 30,000 U.S. service members have been wounded in the war.
Early in April, Bush is expected to announce the next steps in the war, and he is likely to embrace a pause in any troop withdrawals beyond those scheduled to end this July.
The U.S. has about 158,000 troops in Iraq. That number is expected to drop to 140,000 by summer.
The White House said Bush is likely to embrace an expected recommendation from his top commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, for a halt in troop withdrawals in July. During the pause, Petraeus and other senior commanders would make yet another assessment of conditions in Iraq, possibly in September, before recommending any specific troop reductions for the final months of 2008.
One factor arguing against a quick resumption in troop cuts after July is the likelihood that Iraq will hold provincial elections in October, an event that probably will require heightened security.
“It’s now a question of how much time do we pause for,” said Max Boot, a conservative expert on national security and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Petraeus has been pushing for it, and I think the president will certainly give it to him. He has a pretty good hand right now just from the political calculus — he can make a decision on the merits without having to be panicked into a political decision.”
Also Monday, the FBI said the remains of two U.S. contractors kidnapped in Iraq more than a year ago have been recovered. Ronald Withrow of Roaring Springs, Texas, and John Roy Young of Kansas City, Mo., were among six Western contractors kidnapped separately.
Withrow worked for JPI Worldwide when he was kidnapped in January 2007. Young worked for Crescent Security Group when he was kidnapped in November 2006.
The other contractors still missing are Jonathon Cote of Buffalo, N.Y.; Paul Reuben of Minneapolis; Joshua Munns of Redding, Calif.; and Bert Nussbaumer of Vienna, Austria.
U.S. military deaths
The latest identifications reported by the U.S. military of personnel killed in Iraq:
Army Pvt. Tyler J. Smith, 22, Bethel, Maine; died Friday of wounds suffered from indirect fire at Forward Operating Base Falcon near Baghdad; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.
Army Sgt. Thomas C. Ray II, 40, Weaverville, N.C.; Army Spc. David S. Stelmat, 27, Littleton, N.H.; and Army Sgt. David B. Williams, 26, Tarboro, N.C.; killed Saturday when their vehicle was struck by an explosive in Baghdad; assigned to 1132nd Military Police Company, North Carolina Army National Guard, Rocky Mount, N.C.
On HeraldNet
Read about local service members killed in Iraq and share your memories at www.heraldnet.com/iraqwar.
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