US death toll hits 1001 in Iraq US death toll hits

"One Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed today during an attack that took place at about 1200 (0800 GMT) in eastern Baghdad," a Centcom press released said on Tuesday.

The number of wounded in Iraq, according to Defence Department records as of 14 August, stands at 6497, but unofficial sources put that number above 6900.

August marked the highest death toll - 66 killed - for US forces since May 2003, when US-led troops engaged in fierce battles with forces loyal to Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr in southern Iraq.

In April 2003, US forces suffered 135 fatalities during the siege of Falluja.

The cost

In a televised press conference at the Pentagon shortly before the 1000-mark was reached, US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld justified the mounting US military death toll.

"Taking the offence, however, of course, has its cost, just as staying on defence has its cost," he said.

"When combined with US losses in other theatres in the global war on terror, we have lost well more than 1000 already," he said.

Rumsfeld's press conference, his first at the Pentagon since mid-July, came amid fierce fighting in Baghdad between US forces and the Mahdi Army loyal to al-Sadr that left three US troops and more than 40 Iraqis dead.

US forces were also engaged in a fierce bombardment of Falluja on Tuesday night.

Aljazeera + Agencies

BAGHDAD, Iraq Sept. 7, 2004 — U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign passed 1,000 Tuesday, an Associated Press tally showed, as a spike in fighting with both Sunni and Shiite insurgents killed seven Americans in scattered clashes in the Baghdad area.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040907_992.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. death toll in Iraq on Tuesday reached 1,000 nearly 18 months after American-led forces invaded the country to topple the government of former President Saddam Hussein, the White House said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the latest Pentagon figures showed that 997 American troops and three civilian employees of the Defense Department had been killed in Iraq. A defense official confirmed the milestone toll.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6172473

see also
http://news.bostonherald.com/international/view.bg?articleid=43201
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/09/07/iraq_deaths040907.html
and
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/251/world/U_S_military_deaths_in_Iraq_ca:.shtml