There's a Frank Zappa song titled "The Torture Never Stops."

I don't bring this up as reference to the atrocities of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay. Instead, the message of the song is that we will keep on being treated the same way and the pain will continue... and we will, through willful denial or some other means continue to accept that treatment. Here's the lede from Steve Chapman's latest column:

`We feel right now that we have, as I mentioned, broken the back of the insurgency."

--Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler, Nov. 18, 2004, after the U.S.-led offensive against Fallujah.

Could it be that we've misclassified the insurgency in Iraq--that it's an invertebrate, able to absorb bone-crushing blows because it has no bones to crush? It seems to be more like a dandelion, which, when smashed, only spreads more seeds. Seven months after U.S. forces leveled the enemy stronghold, the insurgents are causing as much trouble as ever. The lull in violence that followed the January elections was taken to mean the rebels were in disarray. If so, they've regrouped, and Iraq has reverted to chaos. Nearly twice as many Iraqi security personnel died in attacks in March as in January. April was almost as bad. May looks worse still.