The Iraq War has claimed more than 2,000 U.S. military service men and women’s lives since March 2003.

The Bush administration has remained strong in continuing the operation despite wavering public support.

“The best way to honor the sacrifice of our fallen troops is to complete the mission and win the war on terror,” President George W. Bush said, as reported by CNN.

Bush’s approval ratings also are at an all-time low, at about 37 percent, according to CNN.

The public opinion, however, should not affect the administration’s actions, said Daniel Kempton, associate professor and chair of political science.

“Public support is high at the outset of any given conflict and … rapidly drops off thereafter as the number of casualties mounts,” Kempton said. “Leaders need to be leaders and not blindly follow public opinion.”

Brad Sagarin, assistant professor of psychology, believes public perception is often based on media portrayal.

“Since many of us get our information about the war in Iraq from the media, the way they shape their information … will shape our perception,” Sagarin said.

Junior nursing major Ashley Hood, whose brother served in Iraq, said she is concerned the media negatively impacts public perception.

“I think people have a very bad image of the war because of the media, and they don’t see all the good that the military does,” Hood said.

Others said the more a person pays attention to the media, the more he or she will be affected by it.

“In order to be affected by the media, students have to pay attention to some form of the media. They have to take it in,” said Laura Smart, Family, Consumer, and Nutrition Sciences chairperson.

Smart said students may not be as impacted by the war as in previous generations, noting the lack of participation in the anti-war protest last week.

“Perhaps the war doesn’t impact them as it did in my generation, since there is no draft,” Smart said.

Despite these controversies, ROTC’s NIU branch surpassed its enlistment rate, following a trend of increasing student enlistment.

“Our enrollment here at NIU for the cadets has been progressively going up … in 2004 we commissioned 4,408 officers and in the fiscal year 2005, we had 4,178 lieutenants,” said Lt. Craig Engel, chair of military science.

Though Engel could not say whether the Iraqi conflict has influenced these numbers, he said “every individual is going to have their own reasons for joining the program.”

The exact number of dead remains unknown.

“We don’t do body counts,” said U.S. General Tommy Franks.

The Associated Press holds the number at 2,045 as of Nov. 6, while the Department of Defense counts 2,037 non-civilian deaths as of Monday.