“A top US adviser on Iraq has accused the US military of glossing over an upsurge in violence, just months before its troops are due to be withdrawn. Iraq is more dangerous now than a year ago, said a report issued [on July 30, 2011] by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart W Bowen Junior. He said the killing of US soldiers and senior Iraqi figures, had risen, along with attacks in Baghdad. …’Iraq remains an extraordinarily dangerous place to work,’ Mr Bowen concluded in his quarterly report to Congress. ‘It is less safe, in my judgment, than 12 months ago.’ The report cited the deaths of 15 US soldiers in June [2011]–the bloodiest month for the American military in two years–but also said more Iraqi officials had been assassinated in the past few months than in any other recent period. While the efforts of Iraqi and American forces may have reduced the threat from the Sunni-based insurgency, Shia militias are believed to have become more active, it said.”
– “Iraq Less Safe Than a Year Ago: US Watchdog,” BBC News, July 30, 2011