He's got this good essay about the terrorists personnel problems with lots of quotes and links that underline what I've been saying lately about the insurgents becoming much less effective over the last few months. You can read it here.
Here's my favorite bit, because it quotes a statistic I been looking for and haven't been able to find:
The 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.
So car bombs have been declining. I'd noticed that, but I hadn't considered the fat that VBIEDs are also suicide bombers. It's good to know the insurgents have a finite supply of complete idiots. Though come to think of it, I remember reading about how they used this one retarded guy as a suicide bomber. Or the guy they told to deliver the truck to such and such place, only to blow it up while he was inside it.
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