More news on the Sunni tribesmen versus Al Qaeda in Iraq

Look, the Washington Post has a story today about the growing number of Sunni tribes lining up to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq:

Not long ago it would have been unthinkable: a Sunni sheik allying himself publicly with American forces in a xenophobic city at the epicenter of Iraq's Sunni insurgency.

Today, there is no mistaking whose side Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi is on...

The 36-year-old sheik is leading a growing movement of Sunni tribesmen who have turned against al-Qaida-linked insurgents in Anbar province. The dramatic shift in alliances may have done more in a few months to ease daily street battles and undercut the insurgency here than American forces have achieved in years with arms.

According to the U.S. commanding officer in Ramadi, Col. John W. Charlton, the Sunni tribesmen, the new U.S. strategy to fight the insurgency, and the addition of thousands of Sunni police have reduced the number of attacks in Ramadi by half in recent months.

Why have the tribes turned against Al Qaeda? The Post reports:

Al-Rishawi, whose father and three brothers were killed by al-Qaida assassins, said insurgents were "killing innocent people, anyone suspected of opposing them. They brought us nothing but destruction and we finally said, enough is enough....

"I was always against these terrorists," al-Rishawi said in an interview inside his American-guarded compound, adjusting a pistol holstered around his waist. "They brainwashed people into thinking Americans were against them. They said foreigners wanted to occupy our land and destroy our mosques. They told us, 'We'll wage a jihad. We'll help you defeat them.'"

The difficult part was convincing others it wasn't true, and that "building an alliance with the Americans was the only solution," al-Rishawi said.

Not every Sunni tribe has joined al-Rishawi's movement, the Anbar Salvation Council, but as the Post goes on to describe the situation:

[V]iolence in some districts of Ramadi previously hit by daily street battles has dwindled to a degree so low that American soldiers can walk on the streets in some areas and hand out soccer balls without provoking a firefight _ apparently a direct result of the sheik's influence.

"If I had the tools, I could wipe al-Qaida from Anbar within five months," al-Rishawi was reported as saying.