Yesterday’s devastating suicide bombing in Iraq was only the latest in a stream of upwelling violence that has left at least 185 people dead in a little more than a week.
The attacks show a disturbingly strong insurgency, striking at will in a brutal campaign to stymie the new government. The effort to train Iraqi security and military recruits is suddenly all the more compelling.
Formation of the government is proceeding in fits and starts, with a handful of Cabinet positions still not filled, but it’s hard for Iraqis to worry much about who will be the next minister for this or that when their daily lives are consumed with how to avoid roadside bombs.
There was a feeling of enormous relief, and no little pride, when Iraq concluded its pioneering January elections. But the insurgency has reemerged with vengeance just as the new Iraqi government is trying to become functional. The violence is carefully timed and designed to inflict the greatest amount of fear and casualties.
Most troubling, the victims include many brave Iraqis who were working toward building the nation’s future, including a legislator – the first elected official slain – and the applicants who died yesterday died as they lined up outside a police recruiting center. A second bombing killed a number of Iraqi military.
These are towering sacrifices and Americans empathize with Iraqis who suffered under Saddam Hussein’s rule and now are the targets for Baathist insurgents who lack any compunction about shedding their compatriots’ blood. Foreign terrorists armed with their own murderous agenda continue to play a role.
To date, U.S. policy of building up Iraqi military and police so they could take over security duties has not yet produced an adequate result, nor does the goal seem close at hand. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the insurgency is as strong today as it was a year ago. The tactics and strategy being used to build up Iraqi security capabilities need urgent progress.
