A top U.S. commander told Congress on Tuesday that the level of violence in Iraq is likely to increase — not decrease — after sovereignty is returned to Iraqis in one week. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that insurgents were likely to step up the number of attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians as the country moved toward installing a permanent representative government in elections next year. “We should expect more violence, not less, in the immediate weeks ahead,” Pace said at an often contentious hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. For months, top U.S. officials have said that violence is likely to level off or even decrease after the June 30 transfer of sovereignty, as insurgents come to see derailing the political process as impossible. Pace’s comments indicate that the U.S. government is recalibrating its assessment of the strategy and capabilities of the insurgency. Full Story
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