Baghdad, Iraq ? The fatality toll among Americans serving in the 2 1/2-year Iraq war has reached 2,000, the military reported Tuesday as it announced the death of a soldier who had been wounded by a roadside bomb.

Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander Jr., 34, of Killeen, Texas, was wounded Oct. 17 when a bomb planted by insurgents exploded near his Bradley Fighting Vehicle in the town of Samarra, the Pentagon said. He died Saturday at Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio the Pentagon said.

His death reflected two trends plaguing the 140,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq – the growing number of fatalities caused by hidden bombs and the capacity of insurgents to re-infiltrate areas swept by U.S. offensives. Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, had been targeted by two such offensives in the past 15 months.

Alexander’s death was the 2,000th fatality registered in an Associated Press tally begun when American-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 to topple President Saddam Hussein. Thousands of Iraqis have been killed since the war began, and more than 15,000 U.S. soldiers have been wounded.

The milestone came amid growing anti-war sentiment in the United States, and activists planned demonstrations.

Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war protester who lost a son in the war, began demonstrating Tuesday in front of the White House. MoveOn.org, a leading opponent of the war, planned candlelight vigils across the country in remembrance of troops who have died. The organization also planned to air TV ads about the passing of the 2,000 mark.

Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, predicted that the milestone would not have a major effect on public opinion but would remind many Americans of why they are already unhappy with the conflict.

Appeals for patience

President Bush and top administration officials have made new appeals for patience in recent days, arguing that progress is being made.

“Iraq has made incredible political progress, from tyranny to liberation to national elections to the ratification of a national constitution in the space of two and one-half years,” Bush said to applause Tuesday as he spoke to wives of military officers at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington.

As for critics who say that the war in Iraq has prompted a new wave of terrorism, Bush said: “I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on Sept. 11.”

Recently some Republican lawmakers have begun to speak out in favor of reducing U.S. troop levels in Iraq, but the White House has been trying to dampen such discussions.

“Our strategy is to hold, clear and build,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a Senate hearing last week.

Varying reactions

The milestone drew sharply differing reactions from Congress. Democrats pointed to the losses and criticized the war as Republicans complained their opponents were trying to exploit the moment for political advantage.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., called the moment “another tragic milestone in this costly war, in which too much blood has been spilled already.”

But Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the figure was “an artificial landmark. Of course we grieve over each one of those losses, but it’s an artificial number that some are using to try to undermine support for our effort there. These are people without any constructive alternative; is cutting and running what we’re supposed to do?”

The Senate observed a moment of silence for the “fallen soldiers.” Democrats in the House read the names of all soldiers who had died.

Other deaths

As American deaths in Iraq have climbed steadily and the insurgency shows no sign of weakening, senior U.S. officials have begun to question a key presumption of American strategy – that the establishment of democracy in Iraq can erode support for and ultimately eradicate the guerrillas. At the same time, senior U.S. commanders have acknowledged that the presence of American forces is inflaming the armed opposition.

While stepping up the training of Iraqi units to take over the fight, U.S. forces have continued to take the lead in striking the insurgency.

In addition to announcing Alexander’s death, the Pentagon also said Tuesday that two U.S. Marines had died Friday in a roadside bombing near Amiriya.

‘Not about revenge’

Many American soldiers who have watched their buddies die in Iraq said this week that morale remained high, bolstered by a need to give meaning to those deaths and to protect one another as the war’s toll continues to rise.

“It’s going to keep going up until it’s over,” said Spc. Francisco Gutierrez, 21, of Odessa, Texas, a paratrooper with the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment on a mission in Tal Afar in northern Iraq.

Gutierrez said he had lost his Fort Bragg training partner and needed to keep fighting so that his buddy’s death would not be in vain. “It’s not about revenge,” he said, “but finishing what we started.”