美国华盛顿邮报和ABC新闻网的联合民意调查显示，大部分美国民众认为发动伊拉克战争是一个得不偿失的错误，美国国防部长唐纳德·拉姆斯菲尔德也应该因他的失误而下台。新华社报道如下：A solid majority of Americans believe, for the first time, that the war in Iraq was a mistake and most people believe Defense¹ Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld should lose his job, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll published Tuesday.

While a slight majority believe the Iraq war contributed to the long-term security of the United States, 70 percent of Americans think these gains have come at an "unacceptable" cost in military casualties, the poll shows.

This led 56 percent to conclude that, given the cost, the conflict in Iraq was "not worth fighting, " an eight-point increase from this summer, and the first time a decisive majority of people have reached this conclusion.

Casualty多用复数形式casualties，表示“伤亡（人数），意外事故，死伤者，受害者”，例如：a train wreck² with an unknown number of casualties（一次伤亡人数不明的火车事故）；casualty clearing station（野战医院）；The corner grocery was a casualty of the expanding supermarkets.（角落里的杂货店是日益扩大的超级市场的受害者。）此外，casualty department还可以表示“临时救治所；急诊室”，等于casualty department。