A few months ago I noted that the Iraq insurgency is going backwards down the escalation ladder, from small-unit attacks, to ambushes, to mortar attacks and IEDs, and then to pure terrorism against civilians. In time, I figured this process would continue to the point where most insurgencies start:
Only the massive amounts of money and weapons inside Iraq before the war and accessible to the Sunnis have made this fight drag on as long as it has. Absent these factors, the tiny community upset with the overthrow of Saddam could not have resisted for long.
And even with the advantages of money and arms and foreign jihadis, the so-called rebellion is dropping down the escalation ladder. How long will it be before the insurgency is just a jihadi version of Democratic Underground?
Strategypage observes:
As the terrorists have been losing battles on the ground in Iraq, they have tried to make up for it by increasing their attacks via the Internet. Here, they can create fictional victories and, to an extent, get away with it. So far this year, al Qaeda has increased the number of postings on the net (messages, audio and video files) from 145 in January, to 825 in November. A lot of the increase comes from newly formed, but not very lethal, terrorist groups making false claims. [Some] of these wannabe terrorists are not even in Iraq, but claim to be, and doctor videos to prove that the attacks they claim to have made, actually took place.
We have apparently reached the beginning of the jihadi DU stage. No wonder the anti-war side is so strident about surrendering now. In time, Dean will have to surrender to a web site warrior.
