al-Qaeda is clearly losing in Iraq. Their promised increase in death and destruction is just not panning out. Yes, they can kill a lot of people on occasion. But even while their attacks are becoming more spectacular they are also becoming fewer, farther between and more and more in isolated areas not city centers:

A US commander on Wednesday said the number of “spectacular” assaults by Al-Qaeda in Iraq has increased although the overall number of attacks was down and 20 key militants have been killed or caught.

…

None of the recent attacks, however, has brought the sort of death tolls seen in 2006 and earlier in 2007 when the numbers killed could exceed 100, and the general’s definition of spectacular was unclear.

Several members or leaders of “Awakening” groups — local men paid by the US to fight Al-Qaeda — have also been killed recently.

Hertling was speaking a day after US and Iraqi forces launched a fresh assault against Al-Qaeda in Iraq, codenamed Operation Phantom Phoenix, which the general said was taking place in four central and northern provinces.

All AQ is doing is turning more Iraqis into spies who will turn them in on a moments notice. AQ is a spent force in Iraq, on the run and randomly killing fellow Muslims when they can to garner news headlines and pretend they are still a force to be reckoned with. They are savage animals to hunt down, and Iraqi Muslims are leading the hunt.