Iraq's Insurgency Grinds On

Residents look at damaged vehicles at the site of a bomb attack in a market in Diwaniya, 150 km (95 miles) south of Baghdad. Arab News

Insurgents’ Summer Offensive Begins In June 2012 -- Musings On Iraq

Every summer since 2003, Iraq’s insurgents have launched an offensive. The hotter months bring out the militants, and they launch a number of prominent, mass casualty attacks across the country, along with their routine operations. These are aimed at undermining the government, fomenting sectarian tensions, as well as garnering publicity, which the insurgents use in their fund raising. That means for the next several months there will be increased press reports about violence, and the monthly death counts will go up, but this is just a temporary spike.

June 2012 was the beginning of the insurgents’ summer campaign, and casualties went up as a result. There were a plethora of monthly counts by various organizations. First, the press agencies recorded deaths for the first time in a while. The Associated Press had 234 killed, Reuters had three more at 237, and Agence France Presse had 282. The United Nations’ Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit had a preliminary count of 401 deaths that went up to June 27, while Iraq Body Count had 472 as their early number. In comparison, Iraq’s Health, Interior, and Defense Ministries only claimed 131 killed.

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My Comment: My sympathies are with the Iraqi people who must go through this year after year after year .... but on the flip side .... I am glad that our soldiers are out of that hell-hole.