Baghdad , Iraq ( CNN ) -- On a bitterly cold December morning in 2011 , we watched as the last U.S. troops crossed the border into Kuwait , ending America 's war in Iraq . More than 100 vehicles were in that convoy , snaking its way across the desert and through the floodlit border crossing , leaving behind empty bases and memories of nearly 4,500 American lives that were lost . Americans breathed a sigh of relief . Many Iraqis held their breath . War , they feared , was far from over for them , and time has borne out their fears . The death and violence never stopped -- it 's just that the bombs and bullets faded from American minds and television screens once the pull-out was complete . Two years later we 're back in Iraq and things are in many ways worse for Iraqis than when the Americans left . READ MORE : The `` bad old days '' return in Baghdad . Driving in along what the U.S. military called `` Route Irish '' -- or the BIAP ( Baghdad International Airport road ) -- the stark concrete blast walls are now covered in murals , the median is grassed with palm trees and fountains . We were reminded this was done for the 2012 Arab League Summit in Baghdad , not for general `` beautification . '' Those of us who 'd been to Baghdad on multiple assignments were struck by the ubiquitous security presence -- police checkpoints and posts and army units on duty in some places . The traffic was always bad in Baghdad . Today , it 's worse that we can remember . Locals talk of almost becoming accustomed to the threat of not coming home at night because of some random car bomb . READ MORE : 5 things to know about Iraq violence . More than 8,000 people were killed in Iraq in 2013 , according to the U.N. estimates -- most of them innocent civilians caught up in the tempest of violence that grips their country . The groundwork for today 's problems began almost as soon as that last American convoy left in 2011 . Sunni lawmakers protested the rounding up of many of their aides and security guards , and the country 's vice president -- top Sunni leader Tariq al-Hashimi -- faced arrest and later fled the country . The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was supposed to usher in a political era of inclusion and reconciliation . His critics say those first days after the American departure were a signal of opposite intentions that have continued to this day . The Sunni minority that had ruled Iraq via the iron fist of Saddam Hussein was at the political and social mercy of al-Maliki 's Shia-dominated government . Today , they say , `` inclusiveness '' never materialized , Sunnis have been marginalized and resentment has festered in a divide-and-conquer political climate . As one local put it , `` It 's like if you 're against us , you 're a terrorist and we 'll arrest you . '' Why Iraq is in turmoil . This resentment , aided by the violent government shutdown of Sunni protest camps , provided an opening for the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ( ISIS ) to move into the Sunni heartland of Anbar Province in force . Al Qaeda is a beast that feasts on discontent and in Anbar there is no shortage of sustenance . A previous version of ISIS , the Islamic State of Iraq , comprised the core insurgents the Americans fought in those cities during the war . They have regrouped and strengthened across the border in Syria during that country 's bloody conflict -- and extended their fight for a home for their brand of hard-line Islamism into Iraq . The results have been deadly -- not just in Ramadi and Fallujah of course , but across the country , where , just like the `` bad old days '' of 2005-2009 , bombings and killings have become pretty much daily events . READ MORE : At least 60 killed in Anbar since December 1 . In 2006 the Americans convinced -- and paid -- Sunni tribal and religious leaders to fight the hardliners , with great success . But Sunni grievances never went away and some in Anbar see ISIS as comrades-in-arms against an al-Maliki government viewed as an oppressor of Sunnis . Other Sunnis see al-Maliki as the lesser of two evils -- they do n't like how they 're treated , but like even less the ISIS brand of hard-line , brutal `` governance '' . Al-Maliki has more than once termed the various fights and stand-offs in Ramadi and Fallujah as a fight against `` al Qaeda '' , but it 's not that simple . The Sunni sense of being under the heel of a sectarian government , of being cut out of the running of their country , failing to share in growing oil revenues , has nothing to do with al Qaeda and wo n't evaporate once ISIS is forced from Ramadi and Fallujah . The Americans are n't coming back to help out with boots on the ground , but they are giving other support -- offering drones , missiles , aircraft and other assistance . But this is n't a battle to be won militarily . Sunnis -- many of whom have yet to get used to no longer running the country -- say they want to be part of the system that was meant to be `` inclusive '' but has , they feel , been anything but . READ MORE : How al-Maliki overreached in Anbar province .
CNN 's Chris Matthews says things are in many ways worse for Iraqis now than in 2011 . The situation in Sunni - dominated Kurdistan province has deteriorated in recent years . Critics say Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al - Maliki 's Shia government has angered Sunnis .