ROGER SIMON COLUMN
AUGUST 3, 2005
WASHINGTON - - Does anybody still think, as Vice President Cheney thinks, that the insurgency in Iraq is in its "last throes."
Cheney said that on "Larry King Live" at the end of May. But who really believes it?
As I write this on Wednesday, 14 U.S. Marines have been killed by a roadside bomb in Haditha in northwest Iraq.
Two days before, six U.S. Marines were killed in the same area in an ambush by insurgents.
Always trying to find a bright side, Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, said Wednesday this was a sign that the insurgents lacked "the freedom of movement" they had before U.S. forces applied pressure on them, so now the insurgents were standing and fighting.
Are we supposed to find some good news in that?
Even the U.S. military death toll - - as I write this it is 1,820 - - does not fully convey what is going on in Iraq.
As Robert H. Reid of the Associated Pres noted a few days ago: "As the Iraq war drags through a third broiling summer, the dying goes on -- and neither the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty, nor elections, nor overtures to the Sunnis, nor steps toward a new constitution have been enough to stop it."
Got that? All the stuff the White House brags about - - democracy, elections, constitutions - - none of it seems to be making any difference in the violence.
In fact, things seem to be getting worse. As Reid writes: "According to American military figures, insurgents attacked U.S. and coalition forces an average of 68 times a day during the month (of July.). By comparison, the average daily rate of attacks for July last year was 47."
Got that? The number of daily attacks is going up, not down.
And let's consider the imbalance between the two sides: The insurgents have no planes. They have no helicopters. They have no tanks. They have no heavy artillery. They have no satellites. They have no sophisticated communications systems. They have no "smart" weapons.
So how come they are doing so well? They have the support of too many of the Iraqi people.
Insurgents - - rebels, revolutionaries, they get called different things in different countries - - cannot exist without the support of ordinary people.
People hide them, people feed them, people help them move around and communicate.
And too many Iraqis are helping the insurgents.
Not all the Iraqis, of course. Some are supposedly getting ready to stand up and fight for their own country.
But I fear too many Iraqis have discovered a simple truth: As long as the Americans are standing up and fighting for Iraq, the Iraqis don't have to.
The insurgency is in its "last throes"?
We wish.