Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. military deaths in Iraq reached 2,000 amid rising debate over whether the benefits of the two and one-half year conflict outweigh the casualties and cost.

The toll was reported by Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an Internet site with statistics based on official U.S. casualty reports. The Pentagon said the count is premature, even as its spokesmen sought to downplay its significance.

It's an ``artificial mark on the wall,'' Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan, public affairs chief for the Multinational Forces- Iraq said in an e-mail from Baghdad. ``The 2,000th soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine that is killed in action is just as important as the first that died and will be just as important as the last to die in this war against terrorism.''

Iraq, after two decades under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, is moving toward establishing a federal government. Voters Oct. 15 approved a new constitution by a margin of 4-to-1 and on Dec. 15 they'll choose a parliament. Still, a violent insurgency persists, and Americans' support for the war appears to be waning.

A majority of Americans for the first time said the U.S. military's effort in Iraq isn't going well, a poll by the Washington-based Pew Center showed this month. And, also for the first time, a majority of Americans in a Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive poll said going to war in Iraq was a mistake, the Journal reported today.

The war has been costly in terms of money. With Senate passage of the fiscal 2006 budget earlier this month, Congress has approved a total of $361 billion for military operations, reconstruction and other expenses in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001, according to a report Oct. 3 by Congressional Research Service.

`Commitment Clear'

President George W. Bush today said Iraq is the front line in the global war on terror and can be a showcase for the U.S. effort to spread democracy throughout the Middle East. He insists U.S. forces will remain there until the nation can stand militarily and politically on its own.

``Our commitment is clear,'' Bush said in a speech to the wives of military officers at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington. ``We will not relent until the organized international terrorist networks are exposed and broken, and their leaders are held to account for their murder.''

A Central Intelligence Agency assessment in June said Iraq had become a more potent breeding ground for Islamic terrorists than Afghanistan was in the 1980s.

Bush implicitly rejects that finding. Radicals were spreading their ideology before the March 2003 invasion and will ``exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse,'' he said today.

War Protesters React

Opponents of the president and the war staged protests to mark the 2,000-death milestone.

Moveon.org, an anti-Bush group partially funded by billionaire investor George Soros, released the text of an ad it said will run nationally on CNN. The ad, titled ``How Many More,'' shows an American flag and a coffin in the sand as a voice reads names of American soldiers killed in Iraq.

In Washington, Cindy Sheehan, who has become a prominent leader of war opponents since her son was killed in Iraq last year and she staged a demonstration outside Bush's Texas ranch in August, said she is leading a week-long vigil to mark the U.S. death toll in Iraq hitting 2,000.

Sheehan was protesting at the White House today as Bush returned from his speech.

`2,000 Coffins'

Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist asked lawmakers to observe the death toll announced today with a moment of silence.

Democrats urged an end to the conflict.

``Two thousand funerals, 2,000 flag-draped coffins -- America mourns the loss of these brave soldiers,'' said Deputy Democratic Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois. ``American leaders must redouble their efforts 2,000 times over to bring this war to an end.''

Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy said, ``Our soldiers in Iraq need more than happy talk about progress from the president. They need more than a public relations campaign.

``They need an effective plan to end the violence, and stabilize Iraq, so they can come home with dignity and honor,'' Kennedy said, according to an e-mailed statement of his prepared remarks.

Analysts' Perspective

Analysts sought to put the death toll in perspective.

James Carafano, a defense analyst with the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based policy research group, said that 2,000 deaths are not that high compared with other wars.

``It's still an incredibly low number that doesn't even equal the number of casualties we had on D-day,'' he said.

The number also is ``meaningless,'' Carafano said. ``This president isn't going to change his policy, and Congress isn't going to make him change his policy. This will all be up for debate in 2008, but until then nothing is going to change.''

Michael Radu, a senior fellow at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, said the new toll represents ``the amount of people we would have lost in half a day of major battles in World War II.''

The number is ``2,000 reasons to be sad and to understand the kind of sacrifices that need to be made,'' Radu said.

Charles Pena, a defense policy analyst at the Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, a Washington-based policy research group, said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, has made America ``less safe'' and that the likely outcome in Iraq is ``civil war and sectarian ethnic violence''

``If success is, in fact, not possible or only narrowly possible at extremely high cost both in dollars and lives, and if that success would be short-lived, how much sense does it make to have more soldiers die?'' Pena said in an e- mail.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff St.Onge in Washington at jstonge@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 25, 2005 17:46 EDT