TNR's Notebook, on throes:

Clearly, then, we see what Cheney meant. The insurgency, as any fair observer would admit, entered its last throes sometime about six months ago. After all, that's when the Iraqi elections took place, which the administration contended all along would deal a serious setback to the insurgency. Who could have known that setback would be so severe as to cause the insurgency to enter its 'last throes'? Well, Dick Cheney - who also understands that a throe knows no temporal bounds. Add to the list of practitioners of such sublime, exalted levels of knowledge Cheney's old mentor, Donald Rumsfeld, who added on 'Fox News Sunday' that the insurgency might continue through 2017. See? It's a long throe. One might even be tempted to call it a Hail Mary.

Har!