The latest spate of bomb attacks across Iraq, including a double-strike in the northern town of Tal Afar in which 152 were killed, clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration's reworked strategy for stabilising the situation has flopped. More than 20,000 additional combat troops were inducted into the theatre of operations during the last three months. It was hoped that with such a surge in troop levels, security could be re-established at first in Baghdad and then progressively in the rest of the country. For a few weeks after the new deployment began, there was a decline in the incidence of violence in the Iraqi capital. However, it would now appear that those fighting the foreign occupation were only holding back until they could accurately reassess the changed military equations. The insurgents who had withdrawn to the suburbs of Baghdad or the more distant districts continued to attack the personnel of the U. S. and newly raised Iraqi armies in these areas. To the chagrin of the occupation forces, the insurgency was restarted even in places that were supposed to be `completely pacified.' Tal Afar is one of the towns where intensive anti-insurgency operations were undertaken on two occasions since the March 2003 invasion; it was declared violence-free both times.
The occupation troops who have reason to think that they are trapped in a pointless `whack-a-mole' game could have been hardly surprised when the resistance revived in Baghdad as well.The Hindu
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