WTOP Radio February 17, 2009
Resurgent violence in Iraq complicates U.S. plans
By J.J. Green
WASHINGTON - A rash of suicide bombings and attacks that have killed dozens in Iraq in the last two weeks has raised one critical question: Is Iraq's relative peace slipping away?
On Friday, a tent filled with women and children resting after a long trek to a Shiite holy city south of Baghdad was ambushed. When the attack was over, 40 people were killed and 80 were wounded.
Three days earlier, simultaneous car bombs exploded at a bus terminal and market area in southwestern Baghdad, killing 16 people injuring another 45.
On Monday, eight were killed and 25 were wounded in yet another assault on pilgrims.
They all made the journey to celebrate the end of 40 days of mourning after the anniversary of the seventh century death of one of Shiite Islam's most revered saints, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein.
John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, says what we're witnessing now may be the new reality in Iraq.
"This just may be the way Iraq is. This just may be the way Iraq is for sometime to come. We have seen other countries around the world where it is quite possible to have day-to-day life go on, to have functioning governments more or less in the face of a level of organized violence that we (in the United States) would think would be intolerable. People do adjust to it and learn to live with it," Pike says.
The Pentagon indicates the attacks are from extremists feeling the squeeze.
"Security incidents are at the lowest levels since the summer of 2003 and have been for awhile now. These recent, high-profile, mass-casualty attacks, such as the one we saw [Monday] in Karbala, are tragic and likely due to ongoing U.S. and Iraqi Security Forces pressure against [Al Qaeda in Iraq] and Shia extremists," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell says.
The Iraqi government says it's deployed more than 40,000 security personnel - many of them in plain clothes - and installed security cameras to protect the pilgrims, but Karbala is 50 miles from Baghdad and protection for the entire trip is difficult to provide.
The U.S. Presence in Iraq
There are still several thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq, but their role changing.
"The U.S. military has been training the Iraqis so they can govern their own country and they're going to be in Iraq for quite some time," Pike says.
"They'll be providing back up support to the Iraqis making sure that everybody gets paid, making sure the supplies get delivered, transitioning [Iraqis] to eventually be able to take more of that job themselves. But that's going to take years, not months."
But that's not all they're doing. Remember those reconstruction projects that had to be done and redone during the height of the battle in 2005 and 2006?
Maj. General Mike Eyre, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Gulf Region Division, says they're still at it.
"We have been here now for five years and in that time we have done over 4,400 projects. In fact, currently, we have almost 500 active projects and they really cover the full spectrum of sector support from power with electricity and oil, but also with medical, dental, education, public works and water, security, and justice," Eyre says.
Eyre says they've taken advantage of the relative calm.
"I've been here since September and actually assumed command in October, but the security environment has definitely improved, even compared to when I was here in June for my pre-deployment sight survey," Eyre says.
Eyre says the improved security has allowed his team to make sure the work is done properly.
"That has really demonstrated with our access out to our project sights that we can get routine eyes on to maintain the quality construction that we need and ensure the timeliness as far as meeting project schedules. So it's a very improved secure environment for us to be able to move throughout Iraq at this point," Eyre says.
The Future
The U.S. military's primary focus is shifting to Afghanistan. The Afghan conflict started before the Iraq war and most military analysts agree it's spiraled out of control for so long, that winning it is less certain than before.
Eyre is aware of that resources that may be critical to success in Iraq may go to Afghanistan, but "we're intending to stay here through the duration, whether it's through 2011 or earlier according to the security agreement."
"Right now, the funds are allocated and we're using more and more Iraqi funds to do project work, so we're seeing that transition and again we're trying to really give the capability to the Iraqis to take care of themselves and basically work ourselves out of the job here," Eyre says.
The Obama administration has stated that its goal is to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq in less than two years.
Pike says Iraq may never see total peace again and whatever level of tranquility Iraq ends up with, we should never try to compare it to life in America.
"I think it's going to take a long time for (Iraq) to calm down," Pike adds. "When you look at the Palestinians, when you look at the Northern Ireland, when you look at the Congo, when you look at all of these troubled areas around the world, the level of peace we've have enjoyed here in the U.S. is certainly not something anybody around the planet can take for granted and certainly Iraq is one of those countries."
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