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U.S. upgrades strength of Iraqi insurgency
New Pentagon estimates of the Iraqi insurgency's numbers and funding reveal a military challenge vastly more daunting than anything planned for...

U.S. officials now say when foreign fighters and the network of a Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi are counted with home-grown insurgents, the hard-core resistance numbers between 8,000 and 12,000 people, a tally that swells to more than 20,000 when active sympathizers or covert accomplices are included.

That contrasts with earlier estimates of an insurgency with 2,000 to 7,000 participants and supporters.