McClatchy: Months after troop surge, violence rises in Iraq

[Coexist]

Yes, please, lets keep the status quo.

By Scott Canon
McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three months into the U.S. buildup of troops in Iraq, violence appears to be rising, both against American troops and Iraqi civilians.

A body suspected of being one of three missing American soldiers was pulled from the Euphrates River on Wednesday, and the U.S. military announced the deaths of two Marines and seven soldiers in separate attacks Tuesday, bringing to 80 the number of American service members who've died in Iraq so far this month.

Five Iraqi civilians were killed and 17 wounded in a morning gun battle just outside the walled-off Green Zone, the central Baghdad refuge for U.S. military headquarters and Iraqi government offices. Thirty unidentified corpses were found throughout the capital.

Outside Baghdad, a suicide bomber exploded at a bustling cafe in Mandali, a bustling town on the Iranian border, killing 22 people and wounding 13. more...