U.S. toll in Iraq reaches 2,000

Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander Jr. Was Fatally Injured in Roadside Bombing

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq reached 2,000 yesterday, the same day Iraqi officials announced the passage of a constitutional referendum that could further inflame factional violence.

Official vote totals showed the new constitution was approved largely through the support of the majority Shiite Muslim Arabs and ethnic Kurds, whose representatives oversaw its drafting.

It was opposed by the Sunni Muslim Arabs, who have formed the bulk of the ongoing insurgency and remain mainly outside the government. Sunni leaders said the Oct. 15 vote was rigged.

The Associated Press said its toll had reached 2,000 after the Army announced the death of Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander Jr., 34, from injuries from a roadside bomb attack in the central city of Samarra on Oct. 17.

Alexander, of Killeen, Texas, died at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Benning, Ga.

The Pentagon, which maintains a slightly lower count of soliders who have died in combat or from accidents or illness since the American-led invasion in March 2003, also announced the death of two unidentified Marines in fighting near the western town of al-Amariyah last week.

Military spokesman regularly state that they avoid marking death totals as any sort of milestone because they do not want to appear to value one soldier's death more than another.

In Washington, the Senate observed a moment of silence for the fallen U.S. soldiers. President Bush also addressed the deaths in Iraq and warned that more will come.

Iraqi toll near 30,000

The soldiers contributed to a vital U.S. mission of limiting the spread of Islamic terror, Bush told a luncheon of armed forces officers' wives at Bolling Air Force Base. ''All of you also understand that sacrifice is essential to winning war. And this war will require more sacrifice, more time, and more resolve,'' he said.

Estimates of Iraqi deaths since the start of the war vary widely but Iraq Body Count, a group that counts civilian Iraqi deaths primarily through media reports, puts the figure between 26,690 and 30,051.

The continuing violence in Iraq and controversy over the referendum immediately dimmed the prospects that the country's new constitution could heal Iraq's deep national rifts as the country moves toward the next political step, Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.

Iraqi election officials announced that 78.6 percent of Iraqis voted in favor of the country's draft constitution, with a national turnout of about 63 percent. But the voting largely tracked factional lines, with Shiites and ethnic Kurds in favor and Sunnis on the losing side.

For passage, the constitution required a 50 percent majority nationwide. But the Sunnis still came within about 90,000 votes of defeating it under rules that said no more than two of Iraq's 18 provinces could reject it by a two-thirds majority.

In the Sunni province of Anbar, home to the bloodiest fighting against U.S. and Iraqi government troops, opponents delivered an overwhelming 97 percent vote against the constitution. Another Sunni province, Saladin, voted 82 percent against it.

The province of Nineveh, mostly Sunni but mixed with Kurds, voted 55 percent against the constitution, short of the two-thirds margin.

While Shiite and Kurdish officials lauded the results, some Sunni representatives said that voter turnout of more than 90 percent in some Kurdish and Shiite provinces was inflated and that votes in Sunni areas of Nineveh were undercounted.

Iraqi election officials said four teams of Iraqi and U.N. experts sampled votes throughout the country to assure their validity.

''The constitutional referendum is aimed at establishing a state of law and order,'' said elections commissioner Fareed Ayar. ''It is an accomplishment for all Iraqis.''

The drafting of the constitution was closely overseen by American diplomats who fought hard to mediate disputes and to win Sunni support for it.

But most Sunnis said that the strong powers granted to local governments, demanded by the American-allied Kurds, could lead to the disintegration of the country.

Sunni fallout expected

The Sunnis' loss could increase their distrust in the political process. Saleh Mutlaq, a spokesman for the mainly Sunni National Dialogue Council, told an Arabic television network that the vote was ''a farce.''

The council sent representatives to work on the constitution but ended up opposing it. Council member Faharan al-Sadeed, said the referendum results make moderate Sunnis look bad and make political participation look pointless to Sunnis at large.

''They will not be satisfied with what we tell them from now on,'' he said.