New headlines coming from our most recent nation building project are grim. 'Heaviest Casualties Yet' and 'Explosions Rock Baghdad' ride high on front pages. Terrorist activity in Iraq is on the rise and has been since the official war ended. The exact motivation behind these violent attacks - against Americans and the Iraqis who cooperate with them - isn't clear yet. Maybe it is just a ragtag underground of Baathist party members still loyal to Saddam. It could be that when and if we finally catch up with Saddam - and kill him - that the resistance will fade. Maybe it's a new generation of Al Qaeda recruits fighting the "imperialist invaders" just like Osama bin Laden in 1980's Afghanistan. Maybe they won't go away when Saddam dies. Maybe they won't go away until we do.

The forces that motivate resistance to American occupation have one major goal: To drive the U.S. troops out of Iraq. One need not be a Baath party loyalist to want the Americans out. If we are starting to grumble about billions of dollars going to Iraq and over 200 dead soldiers after less than a year of occupation then the resistance movement(s) should be patting themselves on their backs. Why? Because we have a long way to go.

Many analysts have projected at least a 10 year stay in Iraq. Will our families permit their sons and daughters to die in Iraq for 10 more years? Will Congress continue to funnel enormous sums of money into a foreign country while social programs here at home crumble? It's doubtful.

It's a good thing that we are finally trying to get the UN involved. It is too bad however, that Bush lacked the foresight to plan ahead for this when he summarily snubbed the entire UN Security Council before the war. Now we are over a barrel. If we don't get the bailout that we want we will be trapped in Iraq. We can't afford to back out and risk the Iraqis running Iraq themselves. Why not? Because Iraq wouldn't be our ally. If we leave Iraq now it will be in an arguably much worse situation than before we started dropping bombs. We will leave an America-hating population behind in chaos. We will also be leaving a lot of oil behind. Bush won't let it happen.

So here we are, stuck with a growing resistance movement that is killing more people everyday, stuck with a giant financial responsibility and stuck without relief in sight. This sounds all too familiar. It sounds like history.

We have been in this situation before. Removing a government and replacing it with a new one is never as simple as our politicians try to sell it as. In the late 1920's, we tried to occupy Nicaragua only to be driven out by rebel forces. At first we called them bandits, then we considered them a poorly organized resistance movement. The National Guard that we trained and left behind to fight these rebels ended up forming a repressive dictatorship.

In Iraq we have finally come around to admit that this is more than a scattered group of terrorists. Just like our previous interventions, this one is beginning to sneak up on us.

It's too late to avoid the mess we are in. Bush has us strapped in for the long haul. All evidence, both current and historical, indicates that casualties will continue to mount for as long as we stay in Iraq. We know how much it is costing. We don't know yet how many terrorists are joining the ranks of Al Qaeda from the Iraqi population. It isn't from jealousy over our freedom or our SUV's. It's because people don't want foreigners coming by force into their countries and taking over. We wouldn't like it either. There are many Iraqis that are willing to fight the U.S. regardless of their loyalties to Saddam.

Regardless of whether or not Bush calls them "evil doers," these terrorists are not comic book characters. They are real, they are growing in number and organization, and our soldiers are stuck there with them. Bush bumbled his way into this position, let's hope he can bumble his way back out again.

Steve Helgeson is a junior History major from Chico, Calif.