U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Tops 4,100 as Combat Role Wanes

BAGHDAD - The American military death toll in Iraq passed 4,100 this week, a grim milestone reached as violence falls to its lowest level since 2004 and the U.S. role shifts increasingly to the sidelines.

August was on pace to be one of the least deadly months for U.S. forces since the March 2003 invasion, with fewer than 25 deaths — a fraction of the monthly tolls that regularly exceeded 100 during the war's worst years.

The improvement reflects the Sunni Awakening movement, the 30,000-troop "surge" that ended this summer, and cease-fires by the largest Shiite militia. The last of the surge brigades left Iraq in July.

Attention has shifted to the negotiations over a long-term security agreement. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government is demanding a timeline for American withdrawal — a concept Sen. Barack Obama has championed and Sen. John McCain has resisted.

For Iraqis, the relative calm is real but fragile. Car bombs still strike markets, and more than 2 million people remain displaced outside the country, with millions more uprooted within it.

The 4,100 figure does not include the more than 30,000 Americans wounded, nor the Iraqi dead, estimated by various studies at anywhere from 100,000 to many times that.

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Associated Press writers contributed to this report.

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