U.S. Toll In Iraq Reaches 3,000

In the United States, public discontent over the war has grown, evidenced by the fact that voters gave Democrats control of the new Congress. Many media outlets and pundits have pointed out that the military death toll in Iraq now exceeds the number of people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which Bush has often cited as justification for the war.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Bush "believes that every life is precious and grieves for each one that is lost."

"He will ensure their sacrifice was not made in vain," Stanzel said. "The war on terror will be a long struggle. We will be fighting violent jihadists for peace and security of the civilized world for years to come."

Military leaders played down the significance of reaching 3,000 deaths.

"We don't count that way, because each one is important to us," said Lt. Col. Christopher C. Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. "Number 2,999 means the same to us as number 3,000. It's an arbitrary number that doesn't mean anything to us."

The Defense Department count of Americans killed in Iraq stood at 2,986 as of Sunday, said a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros. The Pentagon's official count often lags because it does not include a fatality in its official tally until 24 hours after notifying next of kin. The U.S. military in Iraq issues news releases with names withheld before deaths are officially counted.

"Let's set aside discussion of numbers," Ballesteros said. "Every loss is regretted, each loss has a value, significance and importance unto itself, regardless of what number anyone would assign."

Each death, he said, "is felt individually by that person's family and friends. It's particularly difficult during the holidays."

Staff writers Michael Abramowitz in Crawford, Tex., and Elizabeth Williamson in Washington contributed to this report.