US deaths in Iraq could top 9/11 toll by christmas

from editor & publisher: Five more American troops have died from combat wounds in western Iraq and Baghdad, the military said Friday, pushing the U.S. death toll since the war began closer to the number who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In December, 76 American troops have been killed. At the current rate, the number of U.S. combat deaths this month could meet or exceed the previous monthly record for 2006.
At least 2,964 American troops have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 -- or just nine less than the commonly accepted U.S. death toll on Sept. 11, 2001.

At the current rate this month, the 9/11 figure could be eclipsed before Christmas Day.

Thirty-two journalists have been killed in Iraq this year, the high for any country in recent years.

An estimated 100,000 to more than half a million Iraqis have perished since the war began.