What is most disturbing about Iraq is that the security situation there continues to deteriorate, even as the country prepares to take over the reins of government from the U.S.-led coalition at the end of June. In particular, terrorist and guerrilla attacks over the past two weeks reveal an ominous shift in tactics and targets -- from direct assaults on U.S. forces to suicide bombings against Iraqi people.

The escalation of violence is certainly not lost on the Japanese government, which earlier this month sent the first units of the main ground-force contingent to southern Iraq. A Defense Agency report says security in the area is relatively good. This assessment, though, already raises doubt.

Until December, insurgents' main targets were U.S. forces in the "Sunni triangle" northwest of Baghdad -- a region dominated by Sunni Muslims once loyal to ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Since his capture, however, attacks on American troops have sharply decreased, although how much the capture has contributed to this is a moot point.