The conservative Washington Times takes note of the roiling pre-election situation in Iraq, where insurgent forces and sympathizers willing to help them reportedly now outnumber U.S. and nascent Iraqi government forces -- with as many as 200,000 working against the occupation. The assessment comes from the head of Iraq's new intelligence services, who points to the many months of chaos, and the lack of basic infrastructure and security as the cause. (Interestingly, almost none of the major media seem to have picked up the story yet.)
"Iraq's director of intelligence says there are now more Arabic insurgents in Iraq than there are U.S.-led coalition soldiers, The Times of London said Tuesday.
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'I think the resistance is bigger than the U.S. military in Iraq. I think the resistance is more than 200,000 people,' said Gen. Muhammad Abdullah Shahwani, director of Iraq's new intelligence services. Shahwani said there were at least 40,000 hardcore fighters attacking U.S. and Iraqi troops, with the bulk made up of part-time guerrillas and volunteers providing logistical support, information, shelter and money.
"'People are fed up after two years without improvement,' he said. 'People are fed up with no security, no electricity -- people feel they have to do something.'
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