U.S.: Iraq Violence Widening

U.S. officials concede they are not defeating or even containing an insurgency that goes deeper than the daily attacks and kidnappings seen on television, reports CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin.

The governor of Al-Anbar province in western Iraq has warned the U.S. that threats against local officials and their families have brought his government to the verge of collapse.

And it goes wider than the so-called Sunni triangle around Baghdad. A recent report prepared for the State Department by a private security firm says "a general trend is emerging of

Scott Taylor, a Canadian journalist who survived five days as a hostage around the northern city of Mosul says the area is honeycombed with Mujahadeen willing to die.

"I think that Mosul is probably about to explode in terms of the resistance which has been fairly dormant up until now in that particular area," Taylor said.

If the insurgency continues to get worse, officials say, that could undermine public support for the war.

They insist they have a plan for taking control of most of the country in time for nationwide elections scheduled for January.

Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi and U.S. commanders have agreed on a military campaign plan to root the insurgents out of 16 cities -- sending American troops in first followed by Iraqi forces.

The campaign would begin with small cities and work up to major rebel strongholds such as Fallujah, depending on how well Iraqi forces perform.

That's the plan, and the Iraqi defense minister was quoted today as saying the campaign will begin next month. No one is willing to predict success since so much depends on untested Iraqi troops, but every one agrees the next three months could be decisive.

CBS News Correspondent Barry Petersen reports the seeping violence has forced some

It's not just the car bombs that strike without warning, kill without discrimination. It's the daily frustrations -- a tank of gas can mean hours in line. Garbage rots on many streets. Standing water is a breeding ground for disease.

To get out of Iraq requires passports and papers, but there's never a shortage of the desperate braving the heat and long lines for their chance to escape.

No one knows for sure how many have already fled the country – certainly in the tens of thousands. There are many thousands more who dream of making the exodus to almost anywhere that is safer than this place.

Saad Yousef runs a DVD shop and said he's given up hope the Americans will bring security. His dream is to move to the one place the Americans have made safe -- America.

He told Petersen every time he hears the bombs go off, he thinks to himself "Time to go, time to leave."

"Nobody want to leave their country, but this is my destiny. It's very dangerous for us," Sammer Abdul Amir, a mother, told Petersen. "I hope to find in another country a peace and security."