August the First Month of Iraq War With No U.S. Military Deaths

For the first time since the American invasion of Iraq, a month has passed without a single U.S. military death in that country. Just one month after 14 troops were killed in Iraq--the deadliest period in three months--not one of the roughly 48,000 men and women stationed there died in August, The New York Times reports.

“If you had thought about a month without a death back during the surge in 2007, it would have been pretty hard to imagine because we were losing soldiers every day, dozens a week,” Col. Douglas Crissman, who is in charge of American forces in parts of southern Iraq told the Times. “I think this shows how far the Iraqi security forces have come.”