By: Lloyd Ellman

Last week two car bombs detonated in downtown Baghdad, killing about 150 people and wounding hundreds more. In August four bombs exploded in the Iraqi village of Qahataniya, killing over 500 civilians. In the past year improvised explosives and suicide bombers killed more than 2,000 innocent Iraqis, causing uncountable destruction to lives and property.

Just the most recent attack devastated several government buildings in an attempt to discredit Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who has claimed that Iraq is safer than ever and is prepared to operate independently when American troops withdraw entirely in 2011. Prime Minister al-Maliki will run for reelection in January of 2010.

Somehow, even with the constant violence and fierce power struggle, Americans (college students are not excluded) seem to have lost their concern for Iraq.

Maybe we’re jaded as a country. Operation Iraqi Freedom has been underway for more than six years and it has been almost three since Saddam Hussein’s execution. Each week new reports of suicide and roadside bombings describe the constant loss of civilian and military lives. After years of constant reporting on these murders, apathy might not be appropriate, but seems to be the only widespread response.

Some American attention has gone instead to nearby countries. Afghanistan’s government recently declared an election runoff (essentially a re-vote) to be held in November to decide if President Hamid Karzai will remain in office for another term. At the same time, President Obama’s declaration that Afghanistan is the “central front” in the war on terror has provided justification for additional troop buildup in the region.

In Pakistan the Taliban forces have merged in some places with Al Qaeda to combat the Pakistani military. In South Waziristan, a northwestern region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, the Pakistani military is engaged in fierce conflict with Taliban militants. Despite rampant anger in Pakistan towards the United States, Pakistani armed forces are aided by American military technology because of the critical role Pakistan must play in ousting the Taliban.

Iran’s nuclear program and political unrest are additional causes for concern in the tumultuous region. The June election that eventually reinstated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was highly contested by an outspoken opposition that remains active today. The protests and violent arrests made international headlines, but were not sufficient to change the interpretation of the election’s results. Last month Ahmadinejad agreed to allow inspectors to visit the newest nuclear facility and to outsource a majority of Iran's uranium enrichment to neighboring countries, but many observers are skeptical of his intentions.

So what about Iraq? The problem of American indifference does not seem to be limited to only Iraq, but rather includes the entire, convoluted dynamic throughout the Middle East. What about Iran, or Pakistan, or Afghanistan? The point is not any specific country, but rather the dull lack of concern for a conflict that is central to the world’s political climate and to our own international policy in the near future.