As the Pentagon reported an all-time high violence levels, an International Crisis Group (ICG) report warned that Iraq is on the brink of total disintegration and drag the entire West Asian region into a regional war. Controversially, ICG wants Washington to distance itself from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government often criticized for failing to handle terrorism effectively and also for reaching out to Iran and Syria, considered major threats to US interests.

However, the ICG says that the UN Security Council should engage Iraq's six neighbors and also with warring parties to contain the spiraling violence and urged the international community to implement the "various measures" as "It is at best a feeble hope." And, this is the "only hope to spare Iraq from an all-out disintegration, with catastrophic and devastating repercussions for all."

The Pentagon's quarterly report says that violence is at its highest with an average of 959 attacks per week up 22% over the last four months. As pointed out by the Iraq Study Group, even this figure is most likely a under-estimation as there is "under-reporting of the violence in Iraq" and that "there could be 10 times more violence acts than noted by the military."