The Last Gasp of the Insurgency?
Cheney has been heavily criticised for his claim that the Iraqi insurgency is in its last desperate throes. Even many strong supporters of the war are unhappy with Cheney. McCain, for instance, thinks the war will last at least a couple more years, and worries that premature talk of its end will only damage public support.
If I had to bet, I would agree with McCain that we have at least a couple more years to go before we can safely say that we have "won" in Iraq. But then again, I won't be surprised if Cheney turns out to be right. If you look at the recent tactics of the insurgents / terrorists, a majority of the attacks are now being committed by foreign suicide bombers. That could mean that the native insurgency is weakening. It could also mean that the terrorists are growing increasingly desperate. While it is true that Islamic terrorists have long used suicide bombers, their increasing reliance on them might indicate that their other tactics are failing, or that they are shooting their wad in desperation now and will soon be running low on human fodder.
Obviously this is all just speculation. What we do know for sure, though, is that suicide bombings aren't helping the insurgency's PR campaign in Iraq. It's too bad that is not the case here in the U.S.
