Bush to Veto Troop Withdrawal on 4th Anniversary of Declaration of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq

April was the 6th deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since the launch of the invasion more than four years ago.

Despite a massive surge of an estimated 30,000 troops designed to ease violence in Iraq's ongoing civil war, with 104 deaths in April, the death toll pushed to over 3,350 with more than 26,000 wounded, according to media estimates of Pentagon statistics.

The death toll for U.S. troops in 2007 is more than 50 percent higher than the first 4 months of 2006.

More than 1,550 Iraqis were killed in April. A car bomb killed 70 worshippers at a Shi'ite religious site in Karbala last week. Yesterday, a car bomb in Basra targeted a business section known to be frequented by supporters of Moqtada Al'Sadr.

Respected academic estimates put the total number of Iraqi deaths at over 650,000 since the beginning of the war.

News of the deadly sectarian violence in Iraq comes just as President Bush again announced his intention to veto a spending supplemental passed by Congress that also includes a timetable for withdrawal.

Bush will use only his second veto in his six-year presidency to veto the funding bill. The veto will be made on or close to the 4th anniversary of Bush's declaration of "mission accomplished" on May 1, 2003 on board the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Since that declaration of victory more than 1,400 days ago, more than 3,200 U.S. troops have been killed and more than 25,600 have been wounded.

The National Priorities Project estimates that so far the war has cost taxpayers $421 billion, more than enough to provide health insurance for every child in the country.