Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Attrition taking its toll on al Qaeda in Iraq

Donald Sensing:

Here's an interesting datum about suicide bombings in Iraq:

[T]he number of vehicle-borne improvised explosive device [VBIED] attacks in Iraq has declined dramatically in recent months. According to a source familar with the totals, there were rougly 125 VBIED attacks in Iraq in May; by August, that number had declined to 68. Another stat you won't find in The New York Times: since the Iraq War began, at least 25% of all VBEIDs have been found and cleared before they detonated. That translates into hundreds--perhaps thousands--of lives saved. With the decrease in VBIED attacks, there has been a corresponding increase in attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs). But (again) you won't hear the reason for that shift in tactics. Using IEDs allows the jihadists to conserve strained personnel resources. Apparently, there are fewer suicide bombers willing to die for the cause, and fewer fighters available for direct attacks against coalition forces, prompting a shift to less risky IED attacks, which require fewer personnel.

I noted in November 2004 that,

Speaking again of jihadis, I think the volunteer pool is getting pretty dry. Notably absent from bin Laden's recent tape was his usual clarion call for more "martyrdom operations." Whassamatta, Osama, the line is forming, like, nowhere? Martydom might be a fine thing in the abstract, but I'm guessing that it has much less appeal in the concrete. "Martyrdom operations" are literally self defeating anyway: they consume your own troops at a 100-percent rate and leave no one to come home a hero, where gleamy-eyed potential recruits can gaze gauzily at them, wanting to be one, too. As for the ladies, they sure see no future in marrying a future martyr. ... There is also the important question of why holy jihadist warriors are losing badly to the infidel dogs, making the Arab street (remember it?) probably wonder whether Allah intends to show up for the match anytime soon.

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