IRAQ: Insurgency in Anbar may be down but not yet out

While attacks against U.S. forces in Anbar province have greatly decreased, the insurgency is still present, possibly attempting to outlast the Americans.

On Monday, the Stars & Stripes newspaper carried an account by one of its reporters embedded with Marines in the Euphrates River Valley town of South Hit about a sniper attack on Marines outside a mosque. The mosque has been the site of anti-U.S. speeches, the newspaper reported.

No Marines were injured in the attack but the lead vehicle in a convoy bringing reinforcement was struck by a roadside bomb. In May a shooting outside the same mosque left an American soldier dead.

"The attacks serve as a reminder to the Marines that the area, where children rush to the roadside to wave at military vehicles and Marines grouse about the lack of action, has yet to be completely pacified," concludes reporter Jimmy Norris.
Babylon & Beyond