Dean's World

Clamping down on insurgents is akin to trying to catch falling spaghetti by grabbing strands sliding off a table -- as this breaking news proves:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Baghdad exploded in violence Saturday, as insurgents attacked a U.S. patrol and a police station, assassinated four government employees and detonated several bombs. One American soldier was killed and nine were wounded during clashes that also left three Iraqi troops and a police officer dead.

Some of the heaviest violence came in Azamiyah, a largely Sunni Arab district of Baghdad where a day earlier U.S. troops raided the capital's main Sunni mosque. Shops were in flames, and a U.S. Humvee burned, with the body of what appeared to be its driver inside.

U.S. forces and insurgents also battled in the Sunni Triangle city of Ramadi, where clashes have been seen almost daily. Nine Iraqis were killed and five wounded in Saturday's fighting, hospital officials said.

In northern Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi forces uncovered four decapitated bodies as they continued a campaign to crush militants who rose up last week. American and Iraqi forces detained 30 suspected guerrillas overnight in Mosul, the U.S. military said Saturday.

Bottom line: it sounds like there is indeed progress...but it's going to be a long haul. Insurgents who are not captured will make a point of striking to dilute U.S. military force, send a message to the U.S. and Iraq government, bolster anti-US/anti-Iraqi government forces, and to gain new recruits to the cause. So this wave of violence is not unexpected.