It turns out that it is a much larger force. Previous estimates placed them at 5,000. Now it is believed to be at 20,000 and that is after having killed 4000 in April alone. More disturbing is that the article goes on to state "Every public opinion poll in Iraq ... supports the nationalist character of what is happening."
Ya'll may not know how difficult it is to remove guerrillas/insurgents but the military knows and dreads it. Check out Russia's struggle with Chechnya. According to military men it takes a force that is bare minimum 10 times larger than the insurgents force, with a realistic number being 15-20 times the size. 20,000 insurgents = 200,000 to 400,000 troops to quell the uprisings. According to information found at CDI (Center for Defense Information) there are approx 200,000 soldiers from various nations currently in Iraq.
We handed over 'sovereignty' will we hand over their quagmire too?