After the last U.S. soldier left Iraq in December 2011, Americans were only too happy to forget about their long misadventure in Mesopotamia. But just because the United States is done with Iraq doesn't mean the country's bloody civil war is over. Every summer, the death rates spike -- this year has been the deadliest since 2010, no matter whose statistics you use. FP's Tom Ricks describes the country as "stuck in a political deadlock that is causing an annual cycle of violence." Here is a glimpse into the instability still plaguing the nation over a decade after the U.S.-led invasion.
Above, Iraqis inspect the site of a blast in a car park at the rear gate of the state-owned North Oil Company, about nine miles from the northern city of Kirkuk, on Sept. 9. A series of at least 10 attacks across Iraq killed more than 30 people and wounded over 80 others on Sept. 9.
MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP/GettyImages
