What is really scary/interesting is that the improvements in medical care and things like body armor aren't doing much more than hide what the death toll would actually be if this was 1970 rather than 2007. The casualties are often in horrendous shape far removed from the condition in which they left for that country.
The Vietnam war had more deaths, and many compare the Iraq war to it, however, advances in medicine and some technologies mask the true brutality of today's war. 20-30 years ago, the death toll would be MUCH higher.