As everyone with a mind predicted, the violence is ramping up in Iraq in the radical Islamists’ eager anticipation of the US troop deadline of June 1 for withdrawl from the cities:
Six bombs rocked Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad on Monday, killing 36 people and wounding more than 110 in an escalation of violence as the U.S. military is thinning out its presence before a June 30 deadline to pull combat troops out of the cities.
…U.S. officials insist that violence has fallen by 90% since the high point in 2007, but a recent uptick in attacks has raised concern that extremists may be regrouping.
“The nature of the attacks and targets are consistent with past al Qaeda in Iraq attacks,” said a U.S. spokesman, Maj. David Shoupe. “We see this as a coordinated attack by terrorists against predominantly Shia targets that they gauge as vulnerable to instigate sectarian violence.”
Obama has a great way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Hopefully this won’t escalate out of control but I’m a pessimist.