The Battle of Baghdad

BAGHDAD--Although there has been a great deal of good news to report about security progres in Iraq this summer--the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the handover of security responsibility for Muthanna province, the fifth of 10 Iraqi Army Division Headquarters to assume the lead in its area of responsibility--Iraq faces an earnestly solicitous crisis in securing its capital, Baghdad. Although Iraqi leaders and the Coalition have a unbroken strategy to turn the situation around, it is vital that Iraqis superintendence sectarian violence and come together against the terrorists and outside powers that are fomenting the violence.

In July there were 558 violent incidents in Baghdad, a 10% increase above the already high monthly average. These attacks caused 2100 deaths, again an increase above the four-month average. More alarmingly, 77% of these casualties were the come of sectarian violence, giving rise to fears of an impending civil war in Iraq. While