| U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign passed the 1,000 milestone yesterday, with more than 800 of them happening after President George Bush declared combat victory over a year ago.
Stubborn insurgency has continued to flare after the Americans brought down Saddam Hussein.
A spike in fighting with Sunni and Shiite insurgents killed seven Americans in the Baghdad area on Tuesday, pushing the count to 1,002.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld cited progress in the Iraqi war.
"The progress has prompted a backlash, in effect, from those who hope that at some point we might conclude that the pain and the cost of this fight isn't worth it," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference.
"Well, our enemies have underestimated our country, our coalition. They have failed to understand the character of our people. And they certainly misread our commander in chief," he said.
The Bush administration has long linked the conflict to the war on terrorism, but the independent Sept. 11 Commission concluded that Iraq and al-Qaida did not have a "collaborative relationship" before the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
Pollsters have said that as many as 35% of the American people believe that Iraq was responsible for the attack on New York and Washington.
The Bush administration claimed for months that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and produced maps showing their location. No weapons of mass destruction have been found. Later, the problem was blamed on faulty security.
Iraq did have such weapons during the first Gulf War.
Bush says the war is worth it, bringing freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people.
The Iraqi death toll is estimated at 10,000, although some reports from the county have said as many as 20,000 have died.
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