US responsible for rising violence in Iraq

A political analyst says the US must be held accountable for the rising violence in Iraq as it invaded the Arab country with the ultimate goal of “shredding” the Iraqi nation, Press TV reports.

In an interview with Press TV, Brian Becker, with the ANSWER Coalition, said the US invaded Iraq in 2003 with a strategy known as “Shock and Awe” to undermine and destroy it.

On March 19, 2003, US-led forces invaded Iraq under the pretext of wiping out the stocks of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) belonging to then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime. In October 2004, however, a CIA report revealed that Saddam Hussein did not possess any weapons of mass destruction and had not begun any program to produce them.

“I think the United States government… had an agenda, which was basically to shred Iraq as a nation. In other words to so weaken it that it could never rise again as a regional power; that it would be utterly weak and divided or dependent on foreign powers for its existence,” he said.

“We see the shredding of a country. It is the killing of a country by a foreign occupation and ultimately I’d say the US government is responsible for the murder and mayhem in Iraq,” Becker added.

Meanwhile, the latest figures released by the Iraqi health, interior and defense ministries showed on Thursday that at least 1,009 people lost their lives in the terrorist attacks targeting different parts of the country in April. Some 881 civilians, 52 police officers and 76 army soldiers were among those killed last month, the figures showed, making April one of the bloodiest months in Iraq since 2008.

In another report, the United Nations gave an overall toll of 750 dead, but not including those killed in the western province of Anbar, where government forces have been involved in heavy clashes with al-Qaeda-affiliated militants since last December.