The death rattle of the Iraqi insurgency

And it's a pretty noisy rattle.

But in Bushworld, yes, sirree, just like Dick Cheney says, the insurgency is in its death throes:

Four apparently coordinated bombings in seven minutes Tuesday killed 18 people and wounded 39 in northern Iraq, while a car bomb in Baghdad injured 28, ending a relative lull in violence.

Hundreds of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers descended on the remote northern city of Tal Afar near the Syrian border, launching a major operation against insurgents following weeks of attacks against Iraqi security services there, military officials said.

Two U.S. Marines died Monday after separate roadside bombings near Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, the military said.

Tuesday's attacks in northern Iraq appeared coordinated and aimed at checkpoints manned by Iraq's fledgling army, a constant target of militants opposed to the new U.S.-backed government.

The first explosion, caused by a roadside bomb, rocked Hawija, about 40 miles southwest of Kirkuk, at around 9:30 a.m. Soon after, three suicide bombers waiting in cars at army checkpoints to the west and north of Hawija struck in quick succession.

In the deadliest attack, 10 civilians and one soldier were killed at a checkpoint in Dibis, two miles west of Hawija, army Lt. Faleh Ahmed said. Three soldiers and two civilians were killed at a checkpoint in Bagara, three miles west of Hawija. Two soldiers died in a suicide attack on the Aziziya checkpoint at the northern entrance to Hawija.

Actually, the insurgency is more like "Not Dead Fred" in Spamalot:

I am not yet dead
I can dance and I can sing
I am not yet dead
I can do the highland fling
I am not yet dead
No need to go to bed
No need to call the doctor
'cause I'm not yet dead.