Death Toll Mounts, U.S. Extends Iraq Troop Tours

Thu Apr 15, 2004 05:01 PM ET

By Charles Aldinger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Expressing surprise at the growing U.S. military death toll in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday he had extended the promised year-long tours of 20,000 American troops there including 6,000 Reserve and National Guard members.

Rumsfeld stopped short of saying the Pentagon failed to put enough forces into Iraq when it invaded a year ago, but conceded he did not expect that dozens of U.S. troops would die in fighting with Sunnis and Shi'ites in the past week alone.

"I certainly would not have estimated that we would have had the individuals lost that we have had lost in the last week," he told a press conference, responding to questions on the deaths of at least 93 U.S. troops since March 31.

This month's toll has pushed to more than 680 the total number of U.S. troops who have died in Iraq from "hostile action," accidents and other causes since the war began.

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