The Daily Background

Earlier today, I wrote about a planned Iraq troop reduction that was cancelled due to conditions in Iraq. The Boston Globe is reporting that Iraq is seeing a higher level of insurgent attacks and violence than it has in two years. BG writes on the recent Pentagon report about increasing violence, which I originally wrote about here:

“Overall, average weekly attacks during this ‘Government Transition’ period were higher than any of the previous periods,” the report states. “Reasons for the high level of attacks may include terrorist and insurgent attempts to exploit a perceived inability of the Iraqi government to constitute itself effectively, the rise of ethno sectarian attacks . . . and enemy efforts to derail the political process leading to a new government.”

As if to underscore the grim report, a spate of violence swept Iraq yesterday. Bombs and other attacks killed 54 people, including an American soldier, according to wire reports. The deadliest bombing, in a popular market in a town about 20 miles north of Baghdad, killed at least 25 people and wounded 65.

This is of course form the official Pentagon report. The war is not going well, and the Pentagon says that the situation is not expected to improve within six months. Full article.

Filed under: Iraq Related, Z-TDB Blog