Soldiers’ families face up to agonising wait

THE drumbeat follows its own grim rhythm: three US soldiers killed in Iraq last week, two more shot this week.

It echoes across America, affecting military families who avoid the TV news and those arguing over the war and what comes next.

The combat death toll hit a disheartening milestone yesterday as the Pentagon acknowledged its casualties from hostile fire reached 147, the same number of troops who died at enemy hands in the first Gulf War.