What little change the US had of getting additional international help is
now finished.
A car bomb ripped through an Italian military police base in the Iraqi town of Nassiriya on Wednesday, killing at least 16 Italians and eight Iraqis in what appeared to be a fresh suicide attack.
While a new CIA report claims that the Iraqi public is
supporting the resistance.
A new top-secret intelligence report warns that Iraqis are losing faith in U.S.-led occupation forces, a development that is increasing support for the resistance, officials said Wednesday.
CIA and White House officials refused to confirm the existence of the report, which comes to light amid urgently scheduled White House meetings with America's civil administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer. Two other senior U.S. officials said the report paints a worrisome picture of the political and security situation there.
It suggests spiraling violence and a lack of confidence in the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council may be bringing efforts to a turning point, sending more Iraqis over to the side of insurgents fighting occupation troops, said two officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
That the Iraqi public supports the resistance should come as no surprise. The near-impunity by which the resistance attacks coalition troops could only occur with the tacit approval of a large segment of the public. And the segment that doesn't support the guerillas? They're cowed into silence. Collaboration in Iraq is essentially a death sentence. And the US and its allies do not have the means to protect anyone (not when Bremer and Wolfowitz have to dodge attacks).