"Does not bode well"

Apparently there's a new reward being offered.

The United States has announced a reward of up to $5 million for clues leading to the arrest of suspected Usama bin Ladin-aide Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

...Faced with an increasingly organised resistance and more combat deaths than during the war, US troops in Iraq are trying to capture a top Saddam official suspected of coordinating attacks against them.

....The attack on the Abrams tank came as officials warned that resistance forces striking at occupation troops were getting better organised with the help of foreign fighters, in an alliance thought to be coordinated by al-Duri.

The M1 Abrams weighs 69.5 tonnes and is the most heavily armoured battle tank to be used by the US troops.

"If it is true that a tank was damaged to this sort of extent resulting in fatalities by a simple roadside bomb, depending on whatever size it was, that does not bode well for the future of the occupation," said Patrick Garrett, an analyst with GlobalSecurity org, a private research group.

The past week has seen a surge of attacks, with an average of 33 daily attacks against occupation forces, up from 26 the previous week.

"Does not bode well for the future of the occupation."

Average daily attack up by 7 over the past week. Climbing rapidly. That doesn't bode well either.

By the way, if we need to dummy up a fake "brain of the operations", we better make sure we get the right (or left?) leg chopped off the body double.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.