Iraqslogger reports: Sunni leader says Sunnis have only themselves to blame for their political marginalization in Iraq

Veteran reporter Nir Rosen of Iraqslogger reports that a leading Iraqi Sunni tribal chief living in exile in Amman, Jordan has admitted that the problems in Iraq are not the fault of the current Shia dominated Iraqi government. “The Sunnis left the political process,” he is reported as saying, “this is our fault. Sunni scholars led by Harith al Dhari (leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars) forbade political participation.” This was the first time, Rosen says, that he has ever heard an Iraqi Sunni leader make such an admission.

Sheikh Saad Mushhan Naif claims to lead the largest subtribe of one of Iraq’s largest tribes (namely, the Aithawi, a subgroup of the Dulaimi tribe) of the restive Anbar province. Saad told Rosen that the Shiite militias who are killing his fellow Sunnis in Iraq “belong to Iran not Iraq or America," adding, "there is a new dictatorship now, a religious one.”

More than half the Americans killed in Iraq last year were killed in Anbar province.

Saad also told Rosen that “Al Qaeda is not cooperating with the Iraqi resistance,” and that “the real Iraqi resistance considers al Qaeda an enemy.” Outside of Baghdad, this is also the most dangerous place to be an Iraqi.

Iraqslogger's report seems to be corroborated by a report USA Today issued yesterday, in which U.S. military officials noted that the Anbar province has seen an upsurge recently in the number of people willing to join the ranks of the police force. In the past two weeks, 2,000 applications were received compared to the "few dozen" that were received in September.

After Al Qaeda killed a popular Sunni tribal leader, the Sunnis have increasingly come to recognize that the message of Al Qaeda is "anarchy and chaos," according to Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer, the commanding officer in Anbar province.

Incidentally, for those of you who haven’t yet discovered Iraqslogger, it is a great place to go for news on Iraq. It is run by Eason Jordan, the former head of CNN news, who after a series of awkward admissions and allegations, seems to have fully embraced the potential of the Internet to collect and disseminate news. He is currently hosting blogger and syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin over in Iraq as she investigates the story behind the mysterious AP source Jamil Hussein.

Update: Eason Jordan wrote to say that though he offered to host Michelle, she ultimately declined his offer and went to Iraq on her own where she embedded herself with the U.S. military.

Update: Michelle is now back and you can see her first report here.