Iraq

U.S. Military: Al-Qaeda may be Gaining Ground In Iraq

By John Jessup
CBN News

CBNNews.com – Another bomb exploded in Baghdad today, killing eight people and wounding 28. The ongoing sectarian violence in Baghdad has resulted in thousands of U.S. troops being sent into the capital for backup.

With the violence continuing in Iraq, U.S. officials have another worry: al-Qaeda may be gaining ground with increased attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces in the western part of the country.

One U.S. military commander described it as "a recruiting war with the insurgency" for the support of Iraq’s young people.

Iraqi officials had hoped support for the new government would be key in quelling the violence and bringing the country together.

Instead, they have found their plans falling short of the goal.

Despite implementing a security plan for Baghdad in June, 10-thousand U.S. troops are moving into the capital to ward off sectarian violence and recent death squad killings.

According to Iraq’s health ministry, more Iraqi civilians were killed in July than any other month since the war, and more than 18-hundred in Baghdad alone.

Top military generals, in a congressional hearing earlier this month, acknowledged if things don't improve, the possibility of civil war exists.

"I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I’ve seen it in Baghdad in particular, and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war," said General John Abizaid.

But the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace says although civil war is possible, it's not expected.

And one Iraqi member of parliament tells USA Today it's not a civil war but a "gangster's war" of militias and mobs.

Despite the onslaught of negative news in Iraq, some analysts say there are some positive strides being made and that the situation is better than reported in the news media, though still very difficult.

One leading conservative Muslim analyst said the gains are reflected in the number of exiled Iraqis returning to the country, the continued religious pilgrimages to Karbala and Najaf, the strength of the Iraq dinar against both regional currencies and the American dollar, and the growing economy – with new businesses, a decreasing unemployment rate, and a growing number of Iraqi exports.

But even as Iraqis work to take control of their future, as things are currently, it's nowhere near as promising as they want it to be.

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