Washington ? U.S. commanders in Iraq say the insurgents are on the run. The problem is that when they’re chased from one place, like Fallujah, they pop up in another, to deadly effect.

It happened in Mosul this week and in Baqubah — with car bombings and attacks on police stations — as well as in Ramadi, a provincial capital just west of Fallujah. The scope of violence in those places is far smaller than in Fallujah, but it demonstrates that the overwhelming technology and firepower of the U.S. military has not broken the back of the insurgency.

It appears unlikely that the Pentagon will send substantially more troops to Iraq. There already are about 140,000 there, and U.S. commanders believe a bigger force would just give the insurgents more targets.

The Pentagon seems likely to stick to its current approach, which is to confront the insurgents wherever they appear, while building up the number of U.S.-trained Iraqi soldiers and other security forces, and hoping the political footings of a democratic Iraq take hold quickly.

In the meantime, the U.S. death toll continues to grow, now exceeding 1,200 since the war began in March 2003. At mid-month, November already ranked as the second deadliest month for U.S. forces, with more than 90 dead.

The central question, many believe, is more political than military: Will support for the resistance grow or shrink as a result of what happened in Fallujah, which was the insurgents’ main base? More broadly, will enough Iraqis accept the Americans’ lead to form a viable government?

“Whether the sparks (from Fallujah) light other fires all over Iraq or burn out” is still a question, said Jon Alterman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The signs so far appear unfavorable.

On Wednesday a suicide car bomb killed 10 Iraqis in the northern city of Beiji, U.S. forces fought insurgents for three hours in Ramadi, and there was sporadic fighting in parts of Fallujah. On Tuesday a prominent Iraqi insurgent claimed the battle for Fallujah was only the start of an uprising.

U.S. troops take cover while under fire after a car bomb rammed into a civilian convoy along Baghdad's airport road, setting vehicles on fire. Wednesday's attack killed at least 10 people and injured 12, including three American soldiers.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a senior Central Command officer, said in an AP Radio interview Tuesday that once the Fallujah offensive began the insurgents attacked in other parts of the country to show “they still were a potent force.” In his view, they lost more than they gained.

To hear him and other American officers tell it, the U.S. plan is working. They don’t expect to end the insurgency, but rather they aim to suppress it enough to permit people throughout the country to elect a national assembly, which would draft a new permanent Iraqi constitution.

Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East, said during a visit to Iraq this week that the Fallujah offensive was a major blow to the insurgents, and he said the only way the U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies could be defeated is if they lose their will.

“But we are also under no illusions. We know that the enemy will continue to fight,” he told the Pentagon’s internal news service.