"My strong sense is that a lot of the political momentum that was generated out of the successful election, which was sort of like a punch in the gut to the insurgents, has worn off."

Not that I would ever doubt the word of an anonymous US official, but how's this for a different take?

1) The insurgents recognized that the US was pouring more troops into Iraq for the election, and pulling out all the stops security-wise, so they fell back - JUST LIKE THEY DID WHEN WE INVADED THE COUNTRY.

2) After the election, as the tribalism and facitonalism inherent in the non-homogenous Iraqi population rears its ugly head once again, the insurgents - many of whom who are of course Iraqi nationals of one stripe or another - use the nascent political process to provide cover for and derive intel of value to their violent activities. (See also Northern Ireland.)

3) We're visiting: they live there. Which means we're fucked, and it's only a matter of time until we find out just how badly.

I love this:

The political stalemate "has given the insurgents new hope," the official added, repeating a message Americans say they are increasingly giving Iraqi leaders.

So, we're telling everybody that if they would just give up on their political objectives and finish forming a government, the terrorism would stop. And we just can't understand why they don't get it.

Well, if you look at the reports from Wahington the Iraqi guard units are growing rapidly and we're just about to pack up and come home. Bwaaa Haaaa Haaaa Haaaa! Those guys have a really dry sense of humor!

This is what happens when the inmates run the asylum.

Bush is caught up in a bad catch-22. He can A) focus on the violence and instability, and see both the support for the war in Iraq and his personal standings plummet (even among the red-head, dead-head set); or B) he can ignore the violence in which case people will wonder why we are there. Either way people will continue to want us out, of course that's not what Bush wants, just look at the "permanent military base" strategy of PNAC.

I'm glad the Iraqis think things will work out for them.

However, Bush is running for President of the United States, not Iraq. All this stuff about helping Iraqis is besides the point. Since when do Republicans go in for foreign aid?

The problem with the Kerry campaign is that they're too politically correct to really make this an issue. They've taken an occasional swipe at Bush over this, but fundamentally, they're too "decent" to push the sort of xenophobic buttons that a Jesse Helms or Pat Buchanan would.