With the current focus on Syria it's easy to miss that things are getting worse again in Iraq. Since the spring, the country has been pounded by waves of attacks on civilians and security forces by extremists with links to al-Qaida. Three car bombs in the Iraqi city of Baquoba killed 10 people Tuesday.
Iraq is one of those slow-boil crises — not as dynamic or transformational as a military coup in Egypt or a civil war in Syria. Refugees aren't creating havoc on the borders. Iraq's government doesn't seem on the verge of falling. Instead, Iraqis are stuck in a middle ground: A daily life wracked with danger but without enough upheaval to raise international alarm.
However, that could change if the bloodshed continues at current levels. U.S. troops withdrew in late 2011 but the country is still at the heart of important U.S. interests — oil, counter-terrorism and regional stability amid the ongoing friction between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
Statistics kept by the Baghdad bureau of Agence France Presse show the monthly number of deaths jumping from between 200 and 300 at the start of the year to almost 900 in July and nearly 700 last month.
The count kept by the United Nations office in Iraq show higher totals with two or three times as many dying in the last couple months as were dying at the start of the year.
Last month, a U.S. State Department official said in a background briefing that suicide bombings had increased from five or 10 a month early in the year to about 30 a month now.
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