Former Ambassador Ryan Crocker Says US Needs to Help Iraq Get ‘Under Control’ Before Addressing War in Syria
Civilians gather at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad’s Sadr City May 28, 2013. At least five people were killed and 26 others wounded in the car bomb attack on Tuesday, which targeted civilians in a Shi’ite slum neighbourhood of Sadr city in eastern Baghdad, police said. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ – Tags: CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) – RTX10413
Between 400 and 500 people were killed in the month of May in Iraq.
You may think that looks like a headline from a 2006 edition of The World, but it’s not.
That’s Iraq’s reality right now.
The spike in violence is raising fears of an all-out sectarian war in the country, barely a year and a half since the last US troops left Iraq.
Veteran diplomat Ryan Crocker was the US ambassador in Iraq from 2007 to 2009.
He says the flames of sectarian conflict in Iraq are being stoked by the violence in neighboring Syrian and an alliance between al-Qaeda groups in both countries.