"It's a number"

Tony Snow on the 2,500 U.S. troops who have died in Iraq.

Published June 15, 2006 9:47PM (EDT)

We don't know anything yet about the solider or sailor or marine who just became the 2,500th U.S. fatality in Iraq. At the White House today, press secretary Tony Snow didn't sound too interested in finding out.

Asked if the president had any "response or reaction" to the sad milestone, Snow said: "It's a number, and every time there's one of these 500 benchmarks people want something."

Snow said that the president "wants the war to be over now" and "feels very deeply the responsibility for sending men and women into harm's way and ... the pain that the families feel."


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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Iraq Iraq War Middle East War Room