Richard Tafoya
Aug 12th, 2006, 01:10 PM
Wow, these "last throes" of the insurgency get bigger and bigger each month.
Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR2006080901773.html
Figures compiled by the city morgue indicated Wednesday that the number of killings in the Iraqi capital reached a new high last month, and the U.S. military said a new effort to bring security to Baghdad will succeed only if Iraqis "want it to work."
The Baghdad morgue took in 1,815 bodies during July, news services quoted the facility's assistant manager, Abdul Razzaq al-Obeidi, as saying. The previous month's tally was 1,595. Obeidi estimated that as many as 90 percent of the total died violent deaths.
Since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in the northern town of Samarra in late February, Baghdad has been ravaged by sectarian violence. Shiite militiamen conduct almost nightly raids on Sunni neighborhoods, and Sunni insurgents frequently bomb Shiite mosques and other gathering places. A report from the United Nations combining morgue and hospital body counts for June showed that, on average, more than 100 people were being killed every day.
On Tuesday, the U.S. military announced the start of the second phase of a U.S.-Iraqi crackdown aimed at securing Baghdad known as Operation Forward Together. A key element of the new phase is the transfer of thousands of U.S. troops to Baghdad from elsewhere in Iraq, but the military's top spokesman told reporters Wednesday that force of arms alone cannot bring peace to the capital.
"The key thing about this operation is that . . . it counts on the Iraqi citizens," said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell. "They have to be involved. The Iraqi people have to want this to work. If they are not involved, if they're not willing to commit, if they're not willing to be a part of the solution, then there is no solution."
Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR2006080901773.html
Figures compiled by the city morgue indicated Wednesday that the number of killings in the Iraqi capital reached a new high last month, and the U.S. military said a new effort to bring security to Baghdad will succeed only if Iraqis "want it to work."
The Baghdad morgue took in 1,815 bodies during July, news services quoted the facility's assistant manager, Abdul Razzaq al-Obeidi, as saying. The previous month's tally was 1,595. Obeidi estimated that as many as 90 percent of the total died violent deaths.
Since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in the northern town of Samarra in late February, Baghdad has been ravaged by sectarian violence. Shiite militiamen conduct almost nightly raids on Sunni neighborhoods, and Sunni insurgents frequently bomb Shiite mosques and other gathering places. A report from the United Nations combining morgue and hospital body counts for June showed that, on average, more than 100 people were being killed every day.
On Tuesday, the U.S. military announced the start of the second phase of a U.S.-Iraqi crackdown aimed at securing Baghdad known as Operation Forward Together. A key element of the new phase is the transfer of thousands of U.S. troops to Baghdad from elsewhere in Iraq, but the military's top spokesman told reporters Wednesday that force of arms alone cannot bring peace to the capital.
"The key thing about this operation is that . . . it counts on the Iraqi citizens," said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell. "They have to be involved. The Iraqi people have to want this to work. If they are not involved, if they're not willing to commit, if they're not willing to be a part of the solution, then there is no solution."