I was under the impression that the resistance was gaining popular support--but Norm's post reminded that there really isn't any evidence supporting that conclusion other than the rising body count. Of course, maybe Ali and Pax are only seeing what they want to see, but their vantage point is surely better than ours.
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This returns us to a subject of discussion from a few months ago, which can clumsily be described as the my-favorite-Iraqi-quote-which-supports-my-assumptions phenomena -- for lack of a smoother turn of phrase.
Some folks think only criminals, terrorists and homicidal maniacs are violently resisting the occupation (a "small, bitter minority" Rumsfeld has said) and highlight quotes from Iraqis which seem to support this opinion.
Others believe the resistance is popular or, at least, growing in popularity and place quotes illustrating this POV on the table.
But at this late date, after all we've seen, isn't it long (so long) past time to stop wondering whether 10, 20, 40 or whatever percent of the population supports armed resistance and simply accept the fact that enough people are a.) resisting and b.) helping resisters to create an unsustainable situation for the US, its nervous coalition and corporate camp followers?
I really don't know how many more reports we must read and hear about the brutality of the occupation before the simple cause and effect chain of violence and counter-violence begins to sink in.
This quote from the NY Times article Stephen Philion posted pretty much says it all:
More than anything else, Falluja has become a galvanizing battle, a symbol around which many Iraqis rally their anticolonial sentiments. Some say the fighting there exposes the lie of American justice by showing that the world's sole superpower is ready to avenge the killings and mutilation of four American security contractors by sending marines to shell and invade a city of 300,000 people.
....
How can a resistance which manages to hold at bay a professional force sent to punish a city of hundreds of thousands for the death of 4 men fail to be anything but popular with a sizable bit of the population?
.d.