BAGHDAD — Under increased U.S. pressure, an Iraqi crackdown on Iranian-backed Shiite militias has helped produce a previously elusive goal: For the first time since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an entire month has passed without a single U.S. service member dying.
“If you had thought about a month without a death back during the surge in 2007, it would have been pretty hard to imagine because we were losing soldiers every day, dozens a week,” said Col. Douglas Crissman, who is in charge of U.S. forces in four provinces of southern Iraq. “I think this shows how far the Iraqi security forces have come.”
None of the roughly 48,000 troops in Iraq was killed in August, a remarkable if fragile achievement, officials said. In all, 4,465 U.S. soldiers have died here since the U.S. invasion in 2003, according to Defense Department figures.
