David,

I suspect you're right when you say the bad guys are attempting to terrorize the entire country into submission. This is pretty clear proof that the terrorist leaders really do have manure for brains. Authoritarian/totalitarian regimes like what Saddam once had or the theocracies in Iran and Saudi Arabia are based upon terrorizing the local population into submission. However the Iraqi population is having genuine democracy dangled in front of it like a carrot. Opposed to this, the terrorists are beating the population with a stick and saying: "Don't become democractic, be our slaves instead!". How stupid can they be?

Gary