While the Democrats push for America’s complete surrender to Al Qaeda in Iraq, thankfully the Iraqis themselves are stilling clawing their way to a democratic future. More indications are being seen that Al Qaeda’s brutality against Iraqis is starting to pay off – for the Coalition. Sunni’s are openly standing up against the Al Qaeda outsiders -0 and winning:

A power struggle is taking place in the Sunni triangle, with tribal leaders and coalition forces aligning against a common enemy

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While the world’s attention has been focused on Baghdad’s slide into sectarian warfare, something remarkable has been happening in Ramadi, a city of 400,000 inhabitants that al-Qaeda and its Iraqi allies have controlled since mid-2004 and would like to make the capital of their cherished Islamic caliphate.

A power struggle has erupted: al-Qaeda’s reign of terror is being challenged. Sheikh Sittar and many of his fellow tribal leaders have cast their lot with the once-reviled US military. They are persuading hundreds of their followers to sign up for the previously defunct Iraqi police. American troops are moving into a city that was, until recently, a virtual no-go area. A battle is raging for the allegiance of Ramadi’s battered and terrified citizens and the outcome could have far-reaching consequences.

Don’t let the defeatism of anyone, including Kissinger, convince you all is lost in Iraq. Kissinger is not in Iraq – he has no first hand knowledge. Just like everyone else here in the US who pretends to be able to predict what is going on in a foreign country on the other side of the world – they are just blowing smoke. I don’t know what will happen. But I do know how to measure where things lay. And the Iraqis and the US military, the ones there day in and day out, are not sending signals all is lost. In fact just the opposite.

Ramadi has been the insurgency’s stronghold for the past two years. It is the conduit for weapons and foreign fighters arriving from Syria and Saudi Arabia. To reclaim it would deal a severe blow to the insurgency throughout the Sunni triangle and counter mounting criticism of the war back in America.

This could be the Battle of the Bulge for Iraq, where the back is broken for our enemies. If Al Qaeda loses their planned capitol city of their vaunted Caliphate then they will lose all credibility. We may actually be on the brink of a major success in Iraq. First rule of thumb – don’t listen to people who pretend they can foretell the future. As we saw in this last election – no one can. Listen to those who are there. Do not listen to those who couldn’t find Al Qaeda if they were standing right in front of them.

Update: More on Ramadi and how things have progressed from Fallujah to Ramadi here:

For this very reason, Ramadi is both a litmus test for the counterinsurgency effort in Iraq and a laboratory. If we can defeat the insurgent and terrorist forces here, there is no place we cannot defeat them. And from what I found, we are defeating them. It’s painfully slow, and our men there are still dying in inordinate numbers from a broad variety of attacks. But a multitude of factors, including tribal cooperation, the continual introduction of more Iraqi army and police, the beginning of public works projects, the building of more Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), the installation of more small operational posts (OPs), and plunking down company-sized Combat Operation Posts (COPs) smack in the middle of hostile territory are destroying both the size and the mobility of the enemy.

We may be at the tipping point in Iraq. Al Qaeda could be on the brink of a crippling loss.

Update: As I said, Kissinger and the other handwringers are not on the ground. Here is the status from Colonel Larry Nicholson who heads the efforts to stabilize Ramadi and Anbar province:

Nicholson is the commander of Regimental Combat Team 5, a large contingent of Soldiers and Sailors operating across 1,800-square miles in Anbar. The Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi are part of RCT-5’s area of operations.

The colonel said he concurs with Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander, U.S. Central Command, who recently stated victory over insurgents in Iraq can best be achieved by establishing capable, nonpartisan Iraqi Army and Police Forces backed by a unified Iraqi government.

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Nicholson saluted the new Iraqi Security Forces, noting they are intelligent and quick learners under the tutelage of U.S.

“There’s a great deal of satisfaction of seeing an Iraqi platoon, which you’ve been working with and training, going out and just ‘nailing’ a patrol and just doing great out there,” he observed.

Partnership, cooperation and mutual respect play big roles in developing effective Iraqi Security Forces, Nicholson pointed out.

“We are, as Marines, a better unit when we go out and we have Iraqis with us,” the colonel observed. The Iraqis, he explained, “see things we’ll never see.”

For example, Iraqi Soldiers and Police can quickly identify non-local people or foreigners who may be potential terrorists, Nicholson observed.

The lesson for the antique media and their talking heads is that we Americans don’t need interpretors. Just let us know what the experts are saying and we can judge for ourselves where things are heading. One thing is for sure, a lot of brave and good people are sacrificing in Ramadi and need to be treated as heroes if we do succeed and we do turn the tide on Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Update: It should be noted that the Battle of The Bulge was Hitler’s last, desparate effort to avoid defeat. He through everything he had at the Allies and nearly succeeding in pushing them back. But what we today need to take away from this is the fact these last ditch efforts incur massive casualties. So when we look at The Battle of The Bulge we see enormous casualties on both sides (for comparison here is the WWII wikipedia entry with the war’s total casualties). It is important to note the battle lasted from Dec 16th, 1944 to Mid Janaury 1945 (January 7th-23rd depending when you want to call it a lost cause for Hitler). These casualties happened in a single month as Hitler dissipated his remaining forces on this last ditch effort.

So if this is a pivotal last thrust in the battle of Iraq, we would expect to see the same increase in carnage – and we do. The antique news media’s understanding of war is worse than their comprehension of the US military. They get their impressions from Hollywood movies – not history. So expect to see more outcries of Iraq spinning out of control. But realize the zone of violence in Iraq is shrinking (much of the country is already under Iraqi control), and those remaining zones are being flooded with resources and being worked with Iraqis to ferret out the insurgents.