The protests certainly are shrinking, but where's the proof that anti-war sentiment grows?

Antiwar rallies drew hundreds of thousands of people at the war's start in 2003, although only 23 percent of Americans then said the invasion was a mistake, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll. That figure is now 58 percent.

Frustration about the war has driven down President George W. Bush's approval ratings and helped Democrats win control of Congress last year.

These two statistics are it - the only evidence that anti-war sentiment is rising. There's little doubt that it's risen since 2003, but is it still rising? Has it risen recently? And is George Bush's approval rating an accurate measure of that?

I think anti-war sentiment may have peaked, despite AP writer Andy Sullivan's (no not that one) protestations to the contrary.

Activists and experts say divisions among peace groups, along with other factors like the lack of a draft, fatigue about the war and the rise of the Internet, have all contributed to the declining turnout.

Anyone who has studied the 60s knows that the "peace" groups had rivalries with each other back then, and that didn't stop the huge turnouts. Last time I checked, there was no draft in 2003 and no draft in 2007, so that's a silly explanation. War fatigue? Vietnam went on for more than 10 years! And, um, the Internet didn't just appear last year.

How about this explanation: The antiwar movement is petering out because fewer people support it, and those willing to march in the beginning weren't committed enough to it in the first place to be in it for the long haul. Unlike our troops.