Violence rises in Iraq as Obama policies are taking shape

By Nancy A. Youssef and Sahar Issa of McClatchy Newspapers

As the U.S. military begins to shift its focus to a new battle against extremists in Afghanistan, a recent spike in violence in Iraq has some military commanders worried that their Afghan strategy could falter with the need to keep a large force in Iraq to quell the mayhem there.

Since this weekend, there have been at least 20 attacks, including a bombing on the outskirts of western Baghdad Tuesday that killed at least 33 people and injured another 57. Also Tuesday, at least four people were killed in several attacks in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Attackers have used motorcycle bombs, mortar attacks, Katyusha rockets and gunfire.

The recent increase in violence comes just as President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. would withdraw most of its forces over the next 19 months, saying that 12,000 of the 140,000 now there would leave by the end of this year.