WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Monday insurgents had stepped up attacks in Iraq to try to sway next week's U.S. elections and they were constantly surfing the Web to keep tabs on American public opinion. "Whether it's al Qaeda or the other elements that are active in Iraq, they are betting on the proposition they can break the will of the American people," Cheney told Fox News. "...They're very sensitive to the fact that we've got an election scheduled." Cheney, a driving force in the decision to invade Iraq in 2003, spoke eight days before congressional elections with polls showing Bush's Republican party at risk of losing control of Congress to the Democrats. Voter disaffection over Iraq, where the U.S. military death toll for October has reached 100, is seen as a critical factor that could hurt Republican chances in the Nov. 7 ballot. Cheney said America's enemies in Iraq possessed the Internet savvy to monitor U.S. developments, helping them to time attacks aimed in part at influencing the elections. But he cited no evidence to back the theory. "There isn't anything that's on the Internet that's not accessible to them. They're on it all the time. They're very sophisticated users of it," he told Fox's "Your World with Neil Cavuto" program. Polls show growing numbers of Americans want to see U.S. troops start coming home. Bush has refused to set a timetable. While echoing Bush's recent comments that attacks in Iraq could be aimed at affecting the elections, Cheney also conceded that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan had something to do with it. Pentagon spokesman Eric Ruff said the insurgents' strategy was to "increase opposition to the war and have an influence against the president." Some critics say the administration is using the theory to explain away the failure of U.S. policy in Iraq. Some U.S. analysts say the rising bloodshed has stemmed mostly from internal factors such as growing sectarian strife.
