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The US military may have suffered 4,000 deaths in five years, NBC's Jim Miklaszewski noted: "It is also estimated that nearly 100,000 Iraqis, military and civilian, have been killed." CBS substitute anchor Smith noted that 97% of the GI deaths have occurred since May 2003 when President George Bush declared the end of "major combat operations." ABC's Jonathan Karl (embargoed link) claimed that the majority of the 4,000 have been killed by blasts from roadside bombs.
NBC's Miklaszewski warned of "early warning signs" that the suppression of violence achieve in the second half of 2007 "may be unraveling." Monthly GI deaths in Baghdad Province have risen from ten in January to 13 in February to 16 already in March. ABC's Karl reported that Gen David Petraeus, the military man in charge in Iraq, "has made it clear" he wants to halt current troop withdrawals to maintain a force level of 130,000 after July.
The 4,000th death put everyone in a somber, even reverent mood. "It has now happened 4,000 times," intoned CBS' David Martin, "but there is no getting used to it--all the potential of a young life gone in an instant leaving a grief that hurts just to watch." ABC anchor Charles Gibson called the toll "sobering" showing a church fence in New York City "heavy laden" with yellow ribbons, a memorial field of crosses on a Santa Monica beach "now a huge expanse." Mused NBC's Mike Taibbi: "Whatever the American public knows or does not know, or cares or does not care about the war, a fallen soldier's family knows an incalculable loss."
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