[Mb-civic] CBC News - U.S. DEATH TOLL IN IRAQ CAMPAIGN REACHES 2, 000

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U.S. DEATH TOLL IN IRAQ CAMPAIGN REACHES 2,000
WebPosted Tue Oct 25 15:33:38 2005

---The U.S. military has announced the death of the 2,000th American
service member to perish in the Iraqi campaign, but a spokesman tried to
downplay the benchmark, calling it "artificial."

"The 2,000 service members killed in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi
Freedom is not a milestone," U.S. army Lt.-Col. Steve Boylan wrote in an
e-mail to reporters, according to the Associated Press.

"It is an artificial mark on the wall set by individuals or groups with
specific agendas and ulterior motives," Boylan said, before the Pentagon
issued a statement on Tuesday saying that army Staff Sgt. George
Alexander had died in Texas on the weekend.



U.S. President George W. Bush – who has faced flagging support for
the campaign – also warned in the day that the country should brace
for more casualties before it finishes its work in Iraq.

The U.S. military doesn't release a running tally of deaths in American
units assigned to the Iraq campaign, in Iraq, Kuwait or elsewhere.

However, Alexander's death brings the total to 2,000, according to an
unofficial count by CBC News.

More than 15,000 American military personnel have been wounded in
the campaign.

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Alexander, 34, was based at Fort Benning, Ga., and assigned to the 1st
Batallion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade.

He was injured when a bomb exploded near his vehicle in the city of
Samarra, north of Baghdad, on Oct. 17.



Earlier Tuesday, Bush told military spouses at Bolling Air Force Base in
Washington that completing the Iraq mission would be the best way to pay
tribute to the dead.

"The terrorists are as brutal an enemy as we have ever faced,
unconstrained by any notion of common humanity and by the rules of
warfare," he said.

"No one should underestimate the difficulties ahead."

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