As reported in McClatchy:
As the U.S. military begins to shift its focus to a new battle against extremists in Afghanistan, a recent spike in violence in Iraq has some military commanders worried that their Afghan strategy could falter with the need to keep a large force in Iraq to quell the mayhem there.
Since this weekend, there have been at least 20 attacks, including a bombing on the outskirts of western Baghdad Tuesday that killed at least 33 people and injured another 57. Also Tuesday, at least four people were killed in several attacks in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Attackers have used motorcycle bombs, mortar attacks, Katyusha rockets and gunfire.
In Baghdad and Washington, military commanders and politicians are quietly fretting that the attacks are in response the administration’s plan to move out of Iraq.
“There was always an underlying feeling that once we start the drawdown the attacks would increase. But the fear is that these spikes will turn into an upward trend,” a senior military officer who closely monitors Iraq, and asked not to be named because of the issue’s sensitivity, told McClatchy on Tuesday. “Right now, we are taking a wait and see approach.”
The national reconciliation conference was a big target of Tuesday’s attack. Among those in attendance were sheiks whose tribe members were among the Sons of Iraq, a militia formerly sponsored by the U.S. and now under Iraqi control. In the past, its members were engaged in insurgent activities. Their transition into civilian life and the Iraqi Security Forces was among the issues discussed.
Until now, most military commanders were focused on violence in Mosul, which remains one of Iraq’s most unstable cities. January’s provincial election stoked tensions between Sunni Arabs and Kurds there, and some fear the ongoing instability there could spread to neighboring Anbar. The Kurds, although a minority, controlled the provincial government but lost in the last election.
Violence has increased since.
