People gather at the site where a double truck bombing tore through a Shiite minority community near Mosel. Photo from The Daily MailIraq Suffers Bloodiest Day Since US Pullback -- Yahoo News/AP
BAGHDAD – A double truck bombing Monday in Mosul and blasts in Baghdad brought the Iraqi death toll to more than 100 in four days, the worst spasm of violence the country has suffered since U.S. forces left the cities.
The bloodshed threatened to chip away at public confidence in the U.S.-backed government as it seeks to project a sense of normalcy ahead of next year's national elections, including an announcement last week that all concrete blast walls will be gone from Baghdad's main roads by mid-September.
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Update: Iraq attacks raise fears of renewed ethnic tensions -- L.A. Times
My Comment: For the past year critics (this blog included) of the U.S. - Iraq Agreement to quickly draw down U.S. forces in Iraq have been stating that this agreement would only embolden our enemies to escalate and ferment chaos and terror in the country .... especially as the date for departure got closer. Many disagreed with this assessment .... including President Obama.
But as I had mentioned in a post a few days ago, I am witnessing the slow unraveling of Iraq. While the violence is still sporadic and isolated, it is clear that the Iraqi security forces are not capable of stopping it. What is worse is that the old sectarian tensions .... suppressed very effectively by the U.S. for the past year and a half .... are now coming back.
The next few weeks are crucial. If the Iraqi security forces cannot control the situation, expect a show of force of U.S. forces on Iraqi city streets. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate for if the violence continues at this level for the next few months .... it will spiral out of control into another 2007 sectarian civil war and bloodbath. Will the U.S. intervene then .... considering our growing commitment to Afghanistan ..... I do not know if we can.