Despite New Security Measures, Violence Persists in Iraq
Although the Iraqi government has developed new plans to address the deteriorating security situation, violence continues to strike throughout the country.
"Park your car on the side of the road, open the trunk and get your official papers ready," the soldier told us when he stopped our car Aug. 9 at a military checkpoint north of the capital.
The line of cars waiting to enter or exit the capital on Eid al-Fitr was long and exhausting, while civilians stood around doing nothing except observing how things were going. In fact, these soldiers were members of the military intelligence services, who are involved in a security plan for part of a new campaign called "revenge of the martyrs."
This new security operation was launched after al-Qaeda gunmen stormed the Abu Ghraib and Taji prisons, north of Baghdad, on July 21.
Mohammed Alwan, an army general who was in charge of overseeing the work of a checkpoint on Baghdad's northern border, told Al-Monitor that "the new security process ... began in early August and was designed to move the confrontation with al-Qaeda to the outskirts of Baghdad."
