General John Abizaid, top U.S. military commander in the Persian Gulf, directly contradicted Vice President Cheney’s comments that the Iraqi insurgency was in its death throes, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Democrat and even some Republican senators expressed considerable skepticism on progress of the war, “with U.S. deaths now surpassing 1,700 since the war began in March 2003.”
Abizaid told the panel: “I believe there are more foreign fighters coming into Iraq than there were six months ago.” As to the overall strength of the insurgency, Abizaid said it was “about the same” as six months ago.