( CNN ) -- Six years ago Thursday , then-President George W. Bush appeared on television screens across America and somberly addressed the nation . An Iraqi crowd pulls down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in April 2003 . `` My fellow citizens , '' he began his four-minute speech , `` at this hour , American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq , to free its people , and to defend the world from grave danger . '' Six years later , the conflict in Iraq drags on -- with war-fatigued Americans shoving the military operation to the deep recesses of their psyches as they grapple with an economic crisis at home . Only 10 percent of voters questioned in exit polls during the November presidential elections picked the war as their top issue . Sixty-two percent said the economy was . `` This is already one of the longest wars in American history . There 's nothing new in Iraq , '' said Steven Roberts , a professor of media studies at the George Washington University . `` We 've read the stories of instability in the government a hundred times . Every single possible story has been told , and so there is enormous fatigue about Iraq . '' Against that backdrop , the United States has accomplished much of what it set out to do when it invaded Iraq on March 19 , 2003 . Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was deposed , captured , tried and hanged for a brutal and deadly crackdown against his opponents during his regime . The rate of U.S. troop deaths has slowed . A surge of 30,000 additional troops in 2007 is credited for security gains the country has made . iReport.com : Share your salute to troops . And a fledgling democracy is taking hold , as President Obama announced that all U.S troops will be withdrawn by the end of 2011 . But America has had to pay a steep price -- literally and figuratively -- to achieve its aims , analysts say . Taking into account operations for fiscal 2010 , the conflict has racked up an $ 800 billion price tag since it began , the Congressional Budget Office said . By Wednesday , 4,261 Americans had been killed in the war , according to CNN 's tally . The Iraqi casualty count , while harder to ascertain because of the lack of formal record-keeping , has reached at least 128,000 , by CNN 's tally . And leaked images of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison and America 's programs of detention and torture have tarred the United States ' image internationally . `` From the first step until now , they destroyed our country , '' said Sheikh Moffaq Qaraghuli , a Baghdad resident . `` Smashed . Not destroyed . Smashed . '' As the battles rage on , researchers are still trying to gauge the damage the war has done to troops . `` I still have the nightmares and wake up and find myself downstairs and I do n't know how I got there , '' said Chris Tucker , who did three tours of duty in Iraq . `` Faces . Kids ' faces . People that you have engaged or you have had contact with . ... You see your colleagues blown up . Things like that . '' `` I thought we would get there quick and handle our business and we 'd be out , '' he said . `` At least that 's what we were told anyway . '' Tucker received a medical discharge from the army last year and is now a police officer in Savannah , Georgia . Many in Iraq also are trying to move on , amid the constant fear of suicide attacks in their ruined cities . The Shahbander cafe , one of Baghdad 's oldest , is a favorite haunt of the city 's intellectuals . Inside , photographs of five young men hang on the wall . Watch Shahbander Cafe patrons talk about the war » . All were sons of the cafe owner , Mohammed al-Khishali -- killed in a car bombing that ripped apart the cafe in 2007 . A month later , al-Khishali lost his grief-stricken wife . For almost two years , he could not bear to reopen the cafe , he said . `` I remember the tragedies every day , '' he said , as his eyes welled with tears . `` But then I decided to take a hard decision to reopen this cafe for the sake of my people , my culture . '' Many of the customers who gather there are critical of the U.S. invasion but are equally concerned about a potential withdrawal . `` Iran has ambitions toward Iraq , '' said Amer Naji , a cafe regular and a former Iraqi diplomat . `` With the Americans , they are afraid to do something aggressive against Iraq . But ... when you withdraw , that will be very dangerous . '' Iraq and Iran fought a war in the 1980s that spanned eight years and killed at least a half-million people , by some estimates . The U.S. and Iraqi governments think Iran 's Islamic Revolutionary Guard has been training militias and providing weapons , such as roadside bombs , to insurgents operating in Iraq . So , though many Iraqis agree that 2009 is better than 2008 , they worry about 2011 when the United States pulls out . `` We are hopeless , '' Qaraghuli said . `` We are hopeless . '' CNN 's Nic Robertson , John King , Ed Hornick and Saeed Ahmed contributed to this report .
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began on Six years later . March 19 , 2003 , fledgling democracy taking hold , security situation improving . But U.S. lost more than 4,000 troops ; more than 4,000 Americans have died . Polls show many Iraqis more focused on economy than lingering Iraq war .