Even more Sunnis turning against al Qaeda in Iraq

From today's Washington Post:

In the Sunni heartland of Anbar and other provinces, Sunni groups are accusing al-Qaeda in Iraq of killing, kidnapping and torturing dozens of their fighters, clerics and followers.

Alaa Makki, a Sunni member of parliament who reportedly has close ties to the insurgents told the Post: "They have realized that those people are not working for Iraq's interests. They realized that their operations might destroy Iraq altogether."

But according to the Post's own sources inside the Iraqi insurgency:

Insurgent leaders, in interviews in person or by telephone, offered different explanations for their split. Many said their link to the al-Qaeda groups was tainting their image as a nationalist resistance force. Others said they no longer wanted to be tools of the foreign fighters who lead al-Qaeda. Their war, they insist, is against only the U.S. forces, to pressure them to depart Iraq.

"We do not want to kill the Sunni people nor displace the innocent Shia, and what the al-Qaeda organization is doing is contradictory to Islam," said Abu Marwan, a religious leader of the Mujaheddin Army in Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad. "We will strike whoever violates the boundaries of God, whether al-Qaeda or the Americans."

..."Al-Qaeda has killed more Iraqi Sunnis in Anbar province during the past month than the soldiers of the American occupation have killed within three months. People are tired of the torture," said Abu Mohammad al-Salmani, an Islamic Army commander.... "We cannot keep silent anymore."

In a letter addressed to al Qaeda and written by one such Sunni group, al Qaeda is accused of "killing innocent people with gases like chlorine." The group also objected to the "Taliban-like" Islamic codes al Qaeda was trying to impose on Iraqis in the areas under its control.

Some Sunni leaders are now even blaming al Qaeda for the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. As Khalid Awad, a commander of the Jamiat Brigades, another insurgent group in Anbar, reportedly told the Post: "We must confess that if it was not for al-Qaeda, neither Iraq nor Afghanistan would have been occupied. For al-Qaeda has awakened the American ogre against the Islamic nation after the September 11th events, and it is still causing disasters."

Some Sunni groups are now urging uniting in order to better fight Al Qaeda. As the Post reports:

"If they do not unite, they will be weakened," Mutlaq said. "Then al-Qaeda will manage to make their Islamic state in Iraq, and it will be a sad day for the country and the world."

What are the chances the Democrats and the Republicans, not to mention Iraq's neighbors, will follow the Sunnis' lead?