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By Associated PressDonald Rumsfeld warns Iraqi insurgents not to underestimate America's willingness to suffer casualties.
BAGHDAD - U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign passed the 1,000 milestone Tuesday, with more than 800 of them during the stubborn insurgency that flared after the Americans brought down Saddam Hussein and President Bush declared major combat over.
A spike in fighting with Sunni and Shiite insurgents killed eight Americans in the Baghdad area on Tuesday and Wednesday, pushing the count to 1,003. That number includes 1,000 U.S. troops and three civilians, two working for the U.S. Army and one for the Air Force. The tally was compiled by the Associated Press based on Pentagon records and AP reporting from Iraq.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cited progress on multiple fronts in the Bush administration's global war on terrorism and said U.S. enemies should not underestimate the willingness of the American people and its coalition allies to suffer casualties in Iraq and elsewhere.
"The progress has prompted a backlash, in effect, from those who hope that at some point we might conclude that the pain and the cost of this fight isn't worth it," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference. "Well, our enemies have underestimated our country, our coalition. They have failed to understand the character of our people. And they certainly misread our commander in chief."
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry issued a statement saying the United States joined the friends and families of those who died in mourning their loss.
"Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq. More than one thousand of America's sons and daughters have made the ultimate sacrifice. Our nation honors their service and joins with their families and loved ones in mourning their loss," Kerry said.
"We must never forget the price they have paid. And we must meet our sacred obligation to all our troops to do all we can to make the right decisions in Iraq so that we can bring them home as soon as possible."
The 1,003 figure includes deaths from hostile and nonhostile causes since the United States launched the Iraq campaign in March 2003 to topple Hussein's regime. All but 138 U.S. deaths came after Bush's May 1, 2003, declaration of an end to major combat operations.
The U.S. military has not reported overall Iraqi deaths. Conservative estimates by private groups say at least 10,000.
"It is difficult to establish the right number of casualties," said Amnesty International's Middle East spokeswoman, Nicole Choueiry. She added, "It was the job of the occupation power to keep track of the numbers, but the Americans failed to do so."
The grim milestone of 1,000 American military deaths was surpassed after a surge in fighting, which has killed 16 U.S. service members since Sunday. Two soldiers died in clashes Tuesday with militiamen loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Five other Americans died Tuesday in separate attacks, mostly in the Baghdad area. Seven Marines were killed Monday in a suicide car bombing north of Fallujah. Two soldiers were killed in a mortar attack Sunday.
West of the capital, U.S. warplanes swooped low over Fallujah on Tuesday in airstrikes after seven Marines and three Iraqi soldiers were killed Monday in a car-bombing near the Sunni insurgent-controlled city.
A group linked to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - Tawhid and Jihad - posted a statement on a militant Web site claiming responsibility for the attack.
Fighting between U.S. soldiers and al-Sadr's militiamen erupted Tuesday when U.S. officials said the cleric's gunmen fired on Americans carrying out patrols in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Two Americans died in the fighting, U.S. officials said. The fighting ended a self-imposed cease-fire declared by the Mahdi Army, the militia led by Sadr.
A senior Iraqi Health Ministry official, Saad al-Amili, said 35 Iraqis were killed and 203 wounded in the Sadr City clashes. An al-Sadr spokesman, Sheik Raed al-Kadhimi, blamed "intrusive" American patrolling for provoking the fighting.
On Tuesday evening in Najaf, where al-Sadr is believed to be operating, more than 1,000 demonstrators marched for the third time this week near his office to demand that he and his militants leave.
They also chanted warnings that he not turn up for Friday prayers in neighboring Kufa.
At the Pentagon, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, blamed the spike in U.S. combat deaths on an insurgency that "is becoming more sophisticated in its efforts to destabilize the country."
Elsewhere, a bomb exploded Tuesday near the convoy of the governor of the Baghdad region, killing two people. Gov. Ali al-Haidri escaped injury, Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdel Rahman said.
Information from Knight Ridder Newspapers was used in this report.