WASHINGTON (AP) – Vice President Cheney said Monday the increase of violence in Iraq is linked with efforts to influence the outcome of midterm elections in which Republicans are struggling to keep control of Congress.

“It’s my belief that they’re very sensitive of the fact that we’ve got an election scheduled and they can get on the Web sites like anybody else,” Mr. Cheney said. He said Al Qaeda and other elements were trying to “break the will of the American people” because “they think we don’t have the stomach for the fight long-term.”

Asked if the attacks were timed to influence the elections, Mr. Cheney said, “That’s my belief.”

Eight days before the elections, Mr. Cheney sat down for interviews for Fox News Channel’s `Your World with Neil Cavuto’ and CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company.”

Mr. Cheney said that “there’s going to be probably a continued level of violence for some considerable period of time in Iraq.” He said that unlike other wars, it was unlikely there would be some dramatic turning point that signals progress.

“There is progress,” Mr. Cheney said. “It’s just – you’re not going to see the kind of thing … a victory like Midway in World War II where we sank all the enemy carriers, or a surrender ceremony at the end of the war. It’s the kind of thing where you have to keep grinding it out day after day after day. It’s tough.”