Sectarian Violence is Now Spreading Beyond Baghdad.
Sectarian violence is spreading in Iraq, reflecting the most complex security challenges since the U.S. invasion in 2003, the Pentagon said Friday.
"Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq, specifically in and around Baghdad, and concern about civil war within the Iraqi civilian population has increased in recent months," it said in a quarterly report to Congress on U.S. efforts to stabilize the country.
That assessment, which has been expressed publicly by U.S. military commanders and others in recent weeks, was tempered by a degree of optimism that the Iraqi government — with support from U.S. troops — will succeed in quelling the sectarian strife. Optimism among ordinary Iraqis, however, has declined, the 63-page report said.
When asked whether they believe "things will be better" in the future, the percentage of Iraqis responding positively has dropped fairly consistently over the past year — whether they were asked to look ahead six months, one year or five years — according to polling data cited in the report.
The report is the first to Congress since the Iraqi government assembled its full slate of ministers in early June. Since then, sectarian tensions have increased, "manifested in an increasing number of execution-style killings, kidnappings and attacks on civilians" and growing numbers of people forced from their homes, it said.
It said sectarian violence has spread from Baghdad into Diyala and Kirkuk provinces north of the capital. It also cited a rising problem with violence in the predominantly Shiite southern region, especially in the city of Basra.
