U.S. death toll in Iraq passes 1,000 mark

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

The grim milestone was surpassed after a spike in clashes that has killed 14 American service members in the past two days. Two soldiers died in fighting today with militiamen loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Five other Americans died today in separate attacks, mostly in the Baghdad area.

During a news conference at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sought to play down the impact of the milestone, saying the "civilized world" had long passed the 1,000th death at the hands of terrorists.

The Bush administration has long linked the Iraq conflict to the war on terrorism. The Sept. 11 Commission concluded that Iraq and al-Qaida did not have a "collaborative relationship" before the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, and some have questioned to what extent foreign terror groups are involved in the anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq.

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Bush and Rumsfeld are either clueless or liars. Why isn’t everyone calling for their heads?

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