They're doing a great job of defeating themselves. They're just a bunch of unemployed losers.
I don't think many people take them seriously. They just like to make a lot noise. So does my dog.
But the people that do take them seriously are sending them money - and these groups are sending money and materiel to "the other side," who are killing and wounding our soldiers, other coalition soldiers and Iraqi soldiers, Iraqi police and Iraqi civilians (including women and children).
They are traitors, for sure; but worse - they are a party to hundreds (thousands?) of murders.