Looks like now there is a full-blown insurgency raging against Al Qaeda's occupation of Iraq...

More and more Iraqis seem to be taking up arms in order to prevent Al Qaeda from turning their homeland into their version of hell, I mean, Islamic paradise on earth. From the Associated Press:

A battle raged in west Baghdad on Thursday after residents rose up against al-Qaida and called for U.S. military help to end random gunfire that forced people to huddle indoors and threats that kept students from final exams, a member of the district council said.

Members of al-Qaida, who consider the district part of their so-called Islamic State of Iraq, were preventing students from attending final exams, shooting randomly and forcing residents to stay in their homes, the councilman said.

Let's hope the residents of the Swat Valley in Pakistan draw strength from this news too. See posts below if you don't know what I'm talking about here.