He acknowledged that terrorist-style attacks across the Sunni region of Iraq outside Falluja were a counteroffensive to the American and Iraqi mission in Falluja.

However, most of the Sunni regions saw the military situation gradually worsen for the U.S. as a disaffected nationalist resistance began to take hold.

Resistance to U.S-led forces would not for long be confined to the Sunni regions of Iraq.

The continued violence in Sunni regions will make it difficult to hold elections in those regions in any case, many Iraqis believe.

Now is the time to dangle more of the carrot and apply less of the stick in the Sunni region as well.

As time passed, towns in the Sunni regions began to feel more and more recognizable to reporters like me who had spent years in Arab places.

Voter turnout ranged from 89% in the Kurdish region of Dahuk to two percent in the Sunni region of Anbar.

Even the more peaceful Sunni regions do not feel adequately represented by any of the six main parties: two Kurdish, two Shiite and two nonsectarian.

This scenario would require keeping American troops in the Sunni region to support tribal leaders battling Al Qaeda.

Some important cities in the Sunni region of western Iraq are controlled by Islamic militants, ex-Baathists and foreign militants, making polling hard to contemplate.