Iraq Attacks Cloud Debate over Syria Intervention
July 24, 2012
Residents stand amid debris near shops damaged by a car bomb attack that occurred late on Monday in east of Baghdad, Iraq, July 24, 2012.
Bomb attacks across Iraq killed more than 100 people Monday, prompting fears that extremist groups could be making a comeback just months after the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country. Analysts say the long shadow of the Iraq war and its aftermath are coloring the debate over intervening in Syria.
Workers clear rubble and twisted metal after a bomb attack in the town of Taji, north of Baghdad on Monday. The town's Sunni community was one of the worst hit with more than 40 people killed, as bomb blasts struck 19 towns and cities across the country.
The scenes of death and destruction are reminiscent of the darkest days of the Iraqi insurgency.
Last week the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq declared a new offensive was underway.
Recent intelligence backs this up, says Shiraz Maher of the International Center For The Study Of Radicalization at Kings College London.
“Certainly from the Internet forums and what we can see of al-Qaida discussing amongst themselves, they really never considered themselves to have gone away as a force," Maher said. "With the departure of American troops at the end of last year, now seems to be a moment when they are regrouping and re-emerging as a force."
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