WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has reported that violence in Iraq
has reached its highest level since at least 2004, and perhaps since the U.S. invasion in 2003.
The U.S. Defense Department cited rising sectarian clashes as threatening civil war in Iraq. The U.S.-led military
coalition has set the prevention of civil war as its most
urgent mission.
Iran and Syria have been fueling the Sunni-Shi'ite war, the Pentagon
charged.
The report cited fighting that extended from Basra in the south to
Mosul and Kirkuk in the north, Middle East Newsline reported.
"Iran and Syria undermine the government of Iraq by providing both
active and passive support to anti-government forces that tend to fuel
ethno-sectarian tensions," the report said.
"The coalition and the
government of Iraq have acted to counter the Iranian and Syrian influence by
tightening security at the borders. However, the borders are porous, and
eliminating the transfer of illegal material and foreign fighters into Iraq
is a formidable challenge."
"The last quarter — it's been rough, and the levels of violence are up,
and the sectarian quality of the violence is particularly acute and
disturbing," Peter Rodman, assistant
secretary of defense for international security affairs, said.
[On Monday, police found the mutilated bodies of 33 men around Baghdad.
At the same time, seven soldiers of the U.S.-led coalition were killed.]
The 63-page report cited about 800 weekly attacks, the highest level
since the Pentagon began gathering statistics in Iraq in April 2004.
Officials said the violence could be the highest since the U.S.-led invasion
in April 2003.
The report, released on Sept. 1, cited a huge increase in executions,
abductions and other sectarian attacks over the last three months. The
Pentagon said this led to a 51 percent rise in casualties and more than
3,000 Iraqis killed or wounded each month.
"It's a pretty sober report this time," Rodman said.
The Pentagon asserted that more than 3,000 people were executed by
Shi'ite and Sunni death squads since June 2006. The report, citing the
Baghdad coroner's office, reported 1,600 bodies in June and more than 1,800
in July, of which 90 percent were assessed to be the result of executions.
"Violence in Baghdad is the most prominent feature of the conflict in
Iraq in this period, as Sunni and Shi'a extremist death squads pursue their
sectarian agendas," the report said. "The resulting violence overwhelmingly
targets civilians, causing segments of the populace to tolerate or even
endorse extremist actions on their behalf as an effective means to guarantee
their safety, undermining both the government of Iraq's ability to deliver
security and its pursuit of a reconciliation program."
The report said the U.S. assassination of Al Qaida chief in Iraq, Abu
Mussib Al Zarqawi — termed a major success — has not placed a dent in the
Sunni insurgency war. The Pentagon cited Al Qaida's semi-autonomous cellular
structure of command and control, which has made the organization resilient
to U.S. and Iraqi strikes.
The report said Al Qaida in Iraq has been locked in battle with the
Iranian-sponsored Mahdi Army. The Pentagon said the two forces were fighting
for control of mixed Sunni-Shi'ite neighborhoods of Baghdad.
"Concern about civil war within the Iraqi civilian population and among
some defense analysts has increased in recent months," the report said.
"Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq. Nevertheless, the
current violence is not a civil war, and movement toward civil war can be
prevented. Breaking the cycle of violence is the most pressing goal of
coalition and Iraqi operations."
