It just keeps going and going and going ... Whacking Uday and Qusay, capturing Saddam, holding elections -- all these things were supposed to take the steam out of the insurgency, but top a U.S. military leader admits that isn't happening.

An excerpt from the BBC story:

The most senior officer in the US armed forces, General Richard Myers, says Iraqi insurgents have lost none of their capacity to stage attacks.

The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff said there were 50 to 60 attacks a day, the same level as one year ago.

He said it is too early to judge whether a recent surge in violence amounted to a concerted campaign.

The BBC's Pentagon correspondent says US optimism felt after the success of the Iraq elections has dissipated.

Recent attacks

The US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, said the key to winning the insurgency was ensuring that the political process in Iraq takes hold.

Speaking of the insurgents who have waged a campaign of violence since the invasion by coalition forces in 2003, General Myers said: "I think their capacity stays about the same. And where they are right now is where they were almost a year ago."

The last week in Iraq has seen a welter of attacks, with dozens dead in suicide bombs and a civilian helicopter brought down outside Baghdad.

But the general insisted it is too early to say whether a new concerted campaign of violence by insurgents is under way.

At what point does the word "quagmire" become applicable?