2000 Dead

The total of American service members killed in Iraq has exceeded 2,000. In reality, there is no difference between the 1999th soldier killed in Iraq and the 2000th, and yet there's no denying the psychological significance the figure has in our country as more and more Americans are becoming disillusioned about the war. Another significance is the speed with which we've reached that figure, as compared to the first 1,000 death:

"Most strikingly, death has come quicker, a sign of the insurgency's increasing efficiency. While it took 18 months to reach 1,000 dead, it has taken just 14 to reach 2,000. More powerful and sophisticated explosive devices are a major reason, causing nearly half of the deaths in the second group."

This article in the Washington Post details how IED's are now responsible for over half of U.S. combat deaths in the war:

"In the first six months of battle in Iraq, only 11 soldiers -- about 4 percent of the 289 who died -- were killed by homemade roadside bombs. In the last six months, at least 214 service members have been killed by IEDs, or 63 percent of the 339 combat-related deaths and 53 percent of the 400 U.S. fatalities, according to data complied by the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index."

Of course, these figures do not include the tens of thousands more wounded, maimed or disabled in the conflict. The terrible irony is that as the Bush administration has sought for the Iraqi forces to take on an ever increasing share of the fighting, the insurgency has become only more effective at killing our soldiers while risking little threat to themselves.

But whatever the war has cost us in lives lost, it has cost the Iraqi people even more, and they seem to be dying in ever greater numbers as the insurgency grows more powerful:

"In one count, compiled by Iraq Body Count, a United States-based nonprofit group that tracks the civilian deaths using news media reports, the total of Iraqi dead since the American-led invasion is 26,690 to 30,051. "

As the article states, Iraqi civilians are now dying at a rate of sixty a day, up forty from this time last year.

For all the debate on the pros and cons of the invasion, and continuing the effort in Iraq now, it's impossible to separate the policy arguments from the human cost of the war.