Killings Rose in Iraq After Zarqawi’s Death

Posted on Jul 5, 2006

Baghdad’s morgue received 1,595 bodies last month, 16% more than in May, showing that the pace of killing has actually increased since the death of terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

This is some of the most disheartening news to come out of Iraq in a long time. It’s yet more proof that we’re fighting a Vietnam-like insurgency that can survive and even prosper after the death of its leaders.

N.Y. Times:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 4 — The central morgue said Tuesday that it received 1,595 bodies last month, 16 percent more than in May, in a tally that showed the pace of killing here has increased since the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq.

Baghdad, home to one-fourth of Iraq’s population, has slowly descended into a low-grade civil war in some neighborhoods, with Sunni and Shiite militias carrying out systematic sectarian killings that clear whole city blocks.

To a large extent, control of the capital means control of the country, and Baghdad is at the center of efforts by American military officials and the new Iraqi government to stem the tide of violence.

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