A body being removed from the rubble left by the multiple truck bombs in Qahtaniya, Iraq. Photo from The New York Times.From The Christian Science Monitor:
The attacks, including a double suicide bombing near Mosul on Thursday, are aimed at disrupting January elections, says Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh in an interview.
Baghdad - Iraqi and US officials believe that a recent spike in high-profile attacks is probably aimed at decreasing public confidence in the Iraqi security forces ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for January.
"We have to be very worried and concerned about this escalation," says Barham Saleh, Iraq's deputy prime minister, speaking by phone from Sulaimaniya. "Many of us are concerned that this is aimed at disrupting the forthcoming elections. We have to recognize that there are political tensions that allow the terrorists to take advantage of fault-lines, either sectarian or ethnic, as a way of deepening the ethnic divide," says Dr. Saleh, who is expected to become prime minister of the Kurdish Regional Government following Kurdish elections in July.
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My Comment: Perception in war is everything .... if the bombings continue the perception will be that the Iraqi security forces are not up to the task .... and this is the ultimate goal of those who want to destabilize Iraq.