by Matthew Hay Brown

For congressional Democrats, the death of the 4,000th American service member in Iraq is cause not only for mourning. It’s another occasion to press President Bush on the war.

In separate statements today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked the same question: How much longer must America support an Iraqi government that has been unable to reconcile deep sectarian differences?

“Last week we began the sixth year of this costly war and last month we began the second year of President Bush’s surge – and yet Iraq’s leaders refuse to take responsibility for their own country,” Reid said. “Today we ask the President to be honest with the American people, and finally to answer the question his own commander in Iraq, General Petraeus, asked more than five years ago: ‘Tell me how this ends.’ ”

Pelosi called the milestone “a gram reminder of the enormous cost of the war in Iraq; the human cost.”

"Americans also understand that the cost of the war to our national security, military readiness and our reputation around the world is immense and that the threat to our economy – as the war in Iraq continues to take us deeper into debt – is unacceptable,” she said. "America wants a New Direction, not the continuation of the President's plan for a 10-year, three trillion dollar war in Iraq."

Earlier, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Bush was “grieved” by the U.S. death toll, and said he was “constantly concerned” about the well-being of surviving families. “He wants them to know that their sacrifice will not be in vain.”

Estimates of Iraqi civilian dead since the state of the war vary widely. IraqBodyCount.org, which keeps a running tally based on media reports, puts the number today between 82,349 and 89,867, but it is believed to have missed many deaths that have gone unreported. A study at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University said the number of all Iraqi dead through mid-2006 was as high as 654,965.

Reid’s statement:

“Today, as a grateful and grieving nation, we mourn the 4,000 servicemembers who have died in this war and honor their families who have sacrificed so much in service to this nation. The 4,000th death is no less regrettable than the 3,999 before it or any that may yet come; it is but the latest reminder that we still owe our nation’s bravest men and women a strategy to redeploy them from an endless civil war and make America more secure.

“Last week we began the sixth year of this costly war and last month we began the second year of President Bush’s surge – and yet Iraq’s leaders refuse to take responsibility for their own country. Today we ask the President to be honest with the American people, and finally to answer the question his own commander in Iraq, General Petraeus, asked more than five years ago: ‘Tell me how this ends.’”

Pelosi’s statement:

"Today, we mourn America's fallen heroes; the deaths of 4,000 American soldiers is a grim reminder of the enormous cost of war in Iraq: the human cost. We honor those soldiers, America's best and bravest who have paid the ultimate price, and pray for their families and loved ones.

"With 4,000 American lives lost and thousands injured, many of them permanently, Americans are asking how much longer must our troops continue to sacrifice for the sake of an Iraqi government that is unwilling or unable to secure its own future.

"Americans also understand that the cost of the war to our national security, military readiness and our reputation around the world is immense and that the threat to our economy – as the war in Iraq continues to take us deeper into debt – is unacceptable.

"America wants a New Direction, not the continuation of the President's plan for a 10-year, three trillion dollar war in Iraq."