This is bad news...

This frightening information from the New Republic today,

According to Iyad Allawi's intelligence chief, General Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani, the Sunni insurgency consists of 200,000 fighters, of which 40,000 are a hard core. "I think the resistance is bigger than the U.S. military in Iraq," Shahwani told AFP today. He claims the Baath Party--which Shahwani says has split into three (unspecified) factions--is the motivating factor behind the swelled number, yet pegged the Baathist hard core at 20,000. But that's not the whole story:

Shahwani said the resistance enjoys wide backing in the provinces of Baghdad, Babel, Salahuddin, Diyala, Nineveh and Tamim, homes to Sunni Arabs who fear they will lose influence after the elections.

Insurgents have gained strength through Iraq's tight-knit tribal bonds and links to the old 400,000-strong Iraqi Army, dissolved by the U.S. occupation in May 2003 two months after the U.S.-led invasion, he said.

Shahwani said: "People are fed up after two years, without improvement. People feel they have to do something.

The spy chief also questioned the success of the November campaign to retake Fallujah, which U.S. forces have hailed as a major victory against the resistance.

"What we have now is an empty city almost destroyed ... and most of the insurgents are free. They have gone either to Mosul or to Baghdad or other areas."

Previous U.S. estimates stated the insurgency included between 10-20,000 adherents.

I was never great at math, but it would seem to me taht we might just be creating more terrorists then we are killing.