I did not support the reasons for invading Iraq but we are there now. Support the brave men and women on the front line. No matter where they come from. Seperate the politics from the armed forces involved - they did not make the political decision to invade.

My heart goes out to our American Allies and all the families who have lost loved ones in Iraq.

Angus MacLennan, Sutton, UK

The tragedy of this war is the manner in which lives are being sacrificed for political expediency. It is very easy for the politicians to argue, sometimes with great eloquence, that the war should continue and that the troop surge is working, when it is not their own sons and daughters who comprise the casualty statistics.

Further compounding this dreadful tragedy is how we have become used to the daily reports of soldiers and civilians being killed in Iraq. A reduction in the death toll does not make each death any less tragic. The reducing death toll also does not in anyway justify the war nor does it validate the constantly changing reasons that we are being given for starting the war.

Donovan Wright, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom

Why do our leaders not read modern history? Did no-one see that artificial countries like Yugoslavia and Iraq made by drawing lines on a map, ignoring ethnic and religious divisions, would inevitably lead to trouble on the scale of the present day?
The tragedies of Kosovo and Iraq need never have taken place. Saddam Hussein, like Tito, was the glue which held the country together and when his grip was removed the country fell apart and in Iraq, muslim on muslim was inevitable.. We may affect to find Hussein's methods of rule abhorrent but we have approved worse elsewhere.
A troublesome ruler was removed in another place with little bloodshed (if you ignore poor Mossadeq"s health and a little rioting here and there) proving that oil development could go ahead without the appalling tragedy that is Iraq today.
So why do our leaders not read and apply modern history?

A parting thought....the drums are starting to beat again and if the baseline is 4000 dead today what is the total likely to be after Iran and Syria?

C.U.JAMES, GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

The fact is, Matt, that the US is responsible for creating a Muslim Iraq, and that it is therefore indirectly responsible for all these civilian deaths. Iraq was not a Muslim nation before the invasion.

M.R., stockport,

I agree with Matt from London. No way Saddam should Saddam have been left to kill and maim Iraqis. After all, the Americans are so much better at it.

As for the 4000th US fatality, well it's sad for the family but what are you going to do ? You can't make an omelete without breaking eggs.

Bob, Liverpool, UK

Matt from London "It is important that one keeps in mind that 99.9% of the civilians dying and suffering in Iraq are because of moslem on moslem fighting and nothing to do with the US forces"

Wait a minute, their was no Muslim on Muslim fighting before the US and Britain started a war to find (non-existant) WMD - and no persecution of Christians. Now Iran will be the regional force - well done. Yes, an evil dictator who had a number of weapons selling friends in the West including the US and Britain.

Timur, London,

Like all wars or combat situations the us has had sence Vietnam military persons are being murdered by the fact those in the white house and other government agencys are not allowing those who are on the ground in Iraq to be in charge of the war. Armchair generals will never help a war as long
as they are in charge.They should allow the men on the ground to have better equiptment,take charge, and if those arm chair Generals want to run the war, go to Iraq and fight .

Dan Buchanan, wheeling wva, wva,usa

"As well as 4,000 dead, at least 29,000 US servicemen and women have been injured in the Iraq war, which entered its sixth year last week..."

I believe the war entered its fifth year last week. Hopefully it will not reach the sixth anniversary.

Katherine, Buffalo, USA

4000 armed US soldiers death, means more than 80,000 Iraqi death, it's an example of human rights of armed US and UK in the World. Crackdown in Iraq should be stopped before discussion about Tibet.

Welch, chongqing, China

What is far worse than the deaths in Iraq. The people that supported George Bush and gave him a second term in office are now the ones that were calling the war a travesty, the same persons called the early war protestors UN-PATRIOTIC.

To bad Bush lied about the intel and the republicans just want to pass it off. They spent 76 million dollars to find out Bill Clinton had sex but wont spend a dime to find out why Bush lied.

Jerry, Covington, LA

It is also important to know the real reasons for the invasion - which was indeed oil - with the "i'll finish off what Pa didn't " attitude of Bush also figuring.
At the end of the day, whether anyone liked it or not. Saddam Hussein managed to hold it all together, admittedly by brutal means. What is more acceptable - a country being held together by brutal means (and there are many) or a so called democracy with its leader sending his own countrymen to their deaths based on total lies and fabrication?

tony, lancashire, UK

What a tragic waste of human life

Chris, London, England

It absolutely disgusts me when the press refers to our men and women in uniform as nothing but a number. Why don't you ask a service person how they feel about it!

Grace, Boerne, TX

It is an awful shame that so many soldiers and civilians alike have died and suffered in Iraq, though it is an unfortunate part of the process towards ultimate peace and stability.
It is important that one keeps in mind that 99.9% of the civilians dying and suffering in Iraq are because of moslem on moslem fighting and nothing to do with the US forces. In fact, it is highly likely that the situation for the average peace loving Iraqi would be much worse were it not for the presence of the allied forces.
Consider the recent 'Balkan' wars and other similar situation. Can it ever be right for the 'civilised world' to sit by and watch mass slaughter in any country ripped apart by 'tribal' or 'ethnic' in-fighting. Or is right to make the sacrifice and move in to help resolve the issue?
Are people now suggesting that it was right that the tyrant Saddam Hussain should have been left to continue to kill and maim because we have lost so many of our own? Are we more important than the Iraqis?

Matt Marks, London, UK