Happy New Year????

What exactly are we celebrating?

On Friday, two more U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq as the year wound down, putting the American military death toll at 841 so far — just five short of 2004's record total despite political progress and dogged U.S. and Iraqi efforts to quash the insurgency.

One soldier was killed Friday when a bomb struck his vehicle in Baghdad, and the second soldier was shot and killed in the western city of Fallujah.

Their deaths brought the number of U.S. military members killed so far in 2005 to 841, of whom 64 died in December. A total of 846 troops died in 2004 and 485 in 2003.

The worst month in 2005 was January with 106 fatalities, followed by November with 96 and August with 85. (Associated Press)