INSUGENCY UNABATED

(taken from a yahoo news report)

Despite the draft constitution, there has been no easing in an insurgency waged by Sunni Muslims, dominant under Saddam, and international guerrillas inspired by
Osama bin Laden (News News Photos Images Web Osama bin Laden).

The U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003 and has been battling insurgents while Iraqis have tried to form a new post-Saddam constitution and government.

The persistent fighting has helped to push down
President George W. Bush's (News News Photos Images Web President George W. Bush) approval rating to a career low of 45 percent, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll.

The U.S. war in Iraq now costs more per month than the average monthly cost of military operations in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, according to a report issued on Wednesday.

The report, entitled "The Iraq Quagmire" from the Institute for Policy Studies and Foreign Policy in Focus, both liberal and anti-war organizations, put the cost of operations in Iraq at $5.6 billion per month.

This breaks down to almost $186 million a day.

"By comparison, the average cost of U.S. operations in Vietnam over the eight-year war was $5.1 billion per month, adjusting for inflation," it said.