Ellington

The war in Iraq passed a sobering milepost Tuesday when U.S. officials reported 12 more Americans were killed - eight of them members of the armed forces, raising to more than 1,900 the number of U.S. service members who have died in the country since the invasion.

A Diplomatic Security agent attached to the U.S. State Department and three private American security guards were killed when their convoy was hit by a suicide car bomber Monday in the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said. The four were attached to the U.S. Embassy's regional office in Mosul. [...]

The latest American deaths, which raised the overall toll to 1,907, included a soldier from the 18th Military Police Brigade killed in a roadside bombing 75 miles north of the capital Tuesday, the military said.

Four soldiers attached to the Marines died Monday in two roadside bombings near the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. They were attached to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

Three soldiers died Friday but their deaths weren't announced until Tuesday: Sgt. Matthew L. Deckard, 29, of Elizabethtown, Ky., killed when a bomb went off near his tank during patrol operations; and Army Spc. David H. Ford IV, 20, Ironton, Ohio, and Army 1st Sgt. Alan N. Gifford, 39, Tallahassee, Fla. killed when an explosive detonated near their tank in Baghdad. [...]

A new poll showed dwindling support among Americans for President Bush's handling of Iraq. Two-thirds in an AP-Ipsos survey said the United States was spending too much in Iraq, and just as many felt the money was not being spent wisely. The poll had a 3 percentage point margin of error.
While about 135,000 U.S. troops operate throughout Iraq, the 8,500 British forces are headquartered in the Basra region, in the country's far south.