Car bomb kills 25 at Iraq funeral
Death toll from new wave of violence since Friday soars to 120

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

The blast capped four exceedingly violent days in which at least 116 people, including 11 Americans, were killed in a storm of bombings and ambushes blamed on Iraqi insurgents, believed largely populated by members of the disaffected Sunni Arab minority.

The Sunnis were dominant for decades under Saddam Hussein but were mainly shut out of the new government announced Thursday. The skyrocketing violence since then is viewed by some as a response to political developments that the United States and the Shiite-dominated power structure had hoped would tamp down the bloodshed.

Despite the unrelenting violence, Iraq's national security adviser said today the fledgling government was making progress against the insurgents.

"There is no shadow of doubt in my mind that by the end of the year, we would have achieved a lot," Mouwafak al-Rubaie said in an interview with CNN's "Late Edition." "Probably the back of the insurgency has already been broken."

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"Probably the back of the insurgency has already been broken." What? How can that be? Just last week the Pentagon was saying that no progress was being made against the insurgents.

From the Australian Broadcasting Company:

US military makes no progress against Iraqi insurgent attacks

JOHN SHOVELAN: Is America and its allies along with the Iraqi security forces winning in the war against the insurgents?

It's a basic question and today the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Richard Myers, said that despite the 140,000 US troops and the billions of dollars being spent and the thousands of international troops, the insurgents remain as potent a force today as they did one year ago.

RICHARD MYERS: No, I think their capacity stays about the same, and where they are right now is where they were almost a year ago and it's nowhere near the peak we saw… I mean they had the ability to surge, and whether we're seeing a surge now or not, I don't know.

JOURNALIST: Are you saying, to make sure I understand, that the insurgency is where it was in Iraq a year ago?

RICHARD MYERS: I think the analysis is that yes, in terms of number of incidences, it's right about where it was a year ago.

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The insurgency is showing no signs of backing down, and it's clear that the US is planning to stay in Iraq for the duration. This means that we can expect these death reports for many more years. We can also expect the number of deaths to eventually become quite high. This is all pretty sickening.

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