By the Numbers

Haven't seen this remark talked about too much:

IRAQ’S rapidly swelling insurgency numbers 200,000 fighters and active supporters and outnumbers the United States-led coalition forces, the head of the country’s intelligence service said yesterday.
...
“I think the resistance is bigger than the US military in Iraq. I think the resistance is more than 200,000 people,” General Muhammad Abdullah Shahwani, director of Iraq’s new intelligence services, said.
...
“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. The army (dissolved by the American occupation authority) was hundreds of thousands. You’d expect some veterans would join with their relatives, each one has sons and brothers.”

I can't find a citation for the NPR report some weeks ago, but after the latest reports of poor electrical service and the inability of Iraqis to purchase gasoline (not kidding), I heard an Iraqi say something that was translated as "Under Saddam, we did not have such troubles."

When Iraqis are looking back on Saddam Husseins rule with nostalgia, the message is clear: Time to go.