Iraq Had Its Most Violent Year Since 2008 — And The Future Could Be Much Worse

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/iraq-had-most-violent-year-since-2008-2014-1



Violence in Iraq surged in 2013 to its worst level in five years, figures released Wednesday showed, fuelled by discontent among the Sunni Arab minority and the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Bombs tore through markets, cafes, football fields and mosques, militants assaulted prisons, police stations and other government facilities, and families were killed in their homes.

And while Iraqi security forces carried out widespread operations targeting militants, they have yet to curb the violence, and the mass arrests they sometimes make may ultimately contribute to the problem.

"One has to go back to 2008 to find comparable levels of violence," Iraq Body Count, a Britain-based NGO that tracks violence in Iraq, said in a statement.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/iraq-had-most-violent-year-since-2008-2014-1#ixzz2p9bGnHwU

[newfie11]

1. Thanks America

We have destroyed an innocent country. Hope if there's a hell Bush, Cheney, and crew spend eternity there.

[bemildred]

2. Just cranking it up for the second half of the civil war Bush started.

(Only fools thought that one was over yet, and now it is interacting with the Syrian conflict and other wider area disputes.)

[Turbineguy]

3. Maybe the parties involved

should ask themselves what they are accomplishing with all this mayhem.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. US policy in the region is incoherent and contributing to the mess.

Our Syria policy, aimed at overthrowing Assad, has weakened the Syrian state and provided breathing room for Sunni Islamic radical militants. Those same Sunni Islamic radical militants are the ones wreaking havoc next door in Iraq, which the US is now going to supply with more weapons to fight them. We abet them on one hand and fight them on the other.

[spanone]

5. this is what happens when you start an 'unnecessary' war.