Al Qaeda rejected in triagle of death

CNN:

Until recently, Yusufiyah was among the most dangerous places in Iraq.

Located in the so-called "triangle of death," a violent area south of Baghdad, it was the site of frequent clashes between coalition forces and Sunni fighters. In May, two U.S. soldiers went missing in Yusufiyah and were never found, despite a massive search.

But today, Sunni tribal leaders in this town cooperate with U.S. forces in their battle against foreign fighters and al Qaeda in Iraq.

"It's all the roll of the dice. It's people and politics all intertwined down here," said Col. Michael Kershaw, commander of the Second Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. Sunni sheik lists grievances against al Qaeda »

Kershaw now greets his former enemies with kisses, hears their grievances, spends time in their homes and even shares meals with them. He is surprised at how far relations have progressed.

"Our hope a year ago was to establish very basic inroads down here," Kershaw said. "We thought the insurgency was far too deep for us to be able to effectively root it out and develop the relationship with the locals."

As happened in Anbar province to the west, local Sunni leaders from this town south of Baghdad finally turned on the al Qaeda extremists in their midst when the death and destruction became too much to bear.

"Killing people, stealing goats, everything, you name it," said Sheik Hamid Karbouli, when asked why he and his men now oppose al Qaeda. Karbouli has recruited some 150 volunteers to man checkpoints and carry guns.

The U.S. military calls the men concerned local citizens.

"I haven't had more than one IED destroy a vehicle in an area where concerned citizens were located ... in the past two months," Kershaw said.

To further encourage local tribesmen to turn against al Qaeda, the U.S. military pays local sheiks to provide security in their area; they receive up to $10 per man. It's a controversial policy, but one that has helped the U.S. military identify and stop insurgents, Kershaw said.

"In the three months since this has started, we have gathered more insurgents up, more terrorists, than we did in the preceding nine months. And that's because they have pointed out to us these people within their own ranks," Kershaw said.

The next step is to have these young Sunnis join the Iraqi police. For that to happen, the U.S. military needs the cooperation of the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad. Cooperation, however, is slow in coming.

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CNN deserves credit for running this story because it cuts against the message of Chuck Schumer and other Democrats that the surge had noting to do with the Sunni opposition to al Qaeda. They can't claim that this change predates the surge. It exposes the desperate attempt to avoid giving credit to our military for the success of the new strategy in Iraq. It also says something about the sickness of the Democrat party and leaders like Schumer that they would seek to deny the obvious success of our forces in order to insure our defeat in Iraq. This commitment to defeat by Democrats is something that should haunt them for a generation or more.