WASHINGTON, Dec 19: The day new US Defence Secretary Robert Gates took office, the Pentagon issued a quarterly report acknowledging that ‘insurgents’ in Iraq had achieved a ‘strategic success’ by unleashing a spiral of sectarian killings.
The 50-page report, mandated quarterly by Congress, paints a bleak picture, warning that increased violence threatens the political institutions that United States has set up since 2003 when it invaded Iraq.
The rapid spread of violence this year has thrown the government's future into jeopardy, Pentagon officials said. Unlike previous reports, the Pentagon’s latest assessment of the situation on the ground omitted any explicit statement that Iraq is not in a civil war.
The report on “Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq” cites a 22 per cent increase in attacks, to nearly 1,000 per week. It says two thirds of the attacks are aimed at coalition forces, but that the remaining attacks, on Iraqi security forces and civilians, are much more deadly.
Attack levels in Iraq hit record highs in all categories nationwide but Iraqi civilian casualties have increased manifold. Since January, ethno-sectarian executions rose from 180 to 1,028 in October, and ethno-sectarian incidents rose from 63 to 996 over the same period.
http://www.dawn.com/2006/12/20/top14.htm
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
