al Qaeda won a victory in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, or they may have had help from Iranian backed Shiite Militia elements – hard to tell. But either way they won one:

Shiite militants and police officers enraged by deadly truck bombings this week in the northwestern town of Tal Afar went on a revenge spree against Sunni Arab residents there Wednesday, killing as many as 60 people, officials said.

The gunmen roamed Sunni neighborhoods in the city, shooting at residents and homes, the police and a local Sunni politician said.

…

Army troops later moved into the Sunni areas to stop the violence, and a curfew was imposed on the entire town, said Wathiq al-Hamdani, the provincial police chief, and his head of operations, Brigadier Abdul-Karim al-Jibouri.

“The situation is under control now,” Hamdani said. “The local Tal Afar police have been confined to their bases and policemen from Mosul are moving there to replace them.”

…

The violence came a day after two truck bombs shattered markets in the city, killing at least 63 people and wounding dozens in the second assault in four days.

After the bombings Tuesday, suspected Sunni insurgents tried to ambush ambulances carrying the wounded out of the city but were driven off by police gunfire, the authorities said.

I think this is a Pyhrric victory at best. The news media, which has ignored much of the other stories in Iraq where Sunnis have shifted their allegience, will make PR hay out of this (as this story tries to do by mentioning Bush throughout). But the tactics from the insurgents are still the same – kill as many Iraqi muslims as possible. The backlash is forming on all the insurgents. And when it explodes it will be they who are rounded up and shot. The majority of Iraqis do not want a blood soaked, violent society. They have made that clear over the years by braving the violence to vote en mass. If this is all the insurgents have to offer it is then probably just a matter of time. The effect is wearing off and the response is building up.