NEW YORK — A Christmas day explosion pushed the number of American troops killed in Iraq above the Sept. 11, 2001, death toll, prompting one father of a slain soldier to call for an end to the war. ‘I want the boys to come home, you know,’ said Robert Lootens, whose son, Jonathan, was killed in October on his second tour of duty. ‘Personally, I can’t see where we’re really accomplishing anything over there anymore.’ The White House said Tuesday that President Bush grieves for each member of the armed forces who has died and that he will ensure that the sacrifice of those killed – 2,978 as of Tuesday afternoon – won’t be in vain. ‘The war on terror is going to be a long struggle,’ deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said. ‘The challenge of our generation is to prevent an attack on our country even greater than 9/11 from happening again.’ The bomb explosion Monday, which killed two soldiers south of Baghdad, raised the number of troops killed to 2,974 since the […]