al-Qaeda is no longer fighting The Great Satan. They are now fighting Muslims, not even moderate Muslims, and trying – through the application of gruesome atrocities – to enforce their rule on those who have severed all ties and now fight al-Qaeda. al-Qaeda is now fighting the Muslim community of Iraq, a war that can only be seen as a war for the soul of Islam:

Al-Qaeda in Iraq militants have seized control of an village in the restive province of Diyala after a two-day battle with a rival Sunni insurgent group, police said on Wednesday.

Dozens of fighters from the Islamist extremist group arrived in boats on Monday and launched an attack on Al-Shuan village on the banks of the Diyala river, police Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim al-Obeidi said

Members of the rival Brigades of the 1920 Revolution fought back but the Sunni Arab village eventually fell to the Al-Qaeda militants.

Obeidi said the village had been attacked after its 300 or so inhabitants refused to align with Al-Qaeda in its fight against Iraqi and US security forces.

“Al-Qaeda militants attacked the village two days ago and took control of it (Tuesday),” said Obeidi.

Quoting villagers who escaped the assault, Obeidi said seven of the 30 houses in the village had been destroyed but he gave no casualty figures.

Many Sunni militants of the Brigades of the 1920 Revolution, an insurgent group formed to fight US forces in Iraq, have now joined with US and Iraqi troops to fight Al-Qaeda in Sunni Arab areas of Iraq.

Bin Laden’s thugs are losing the heart of the Muslim street because they are now brutalizing that same Muslim street. And when this village is freed (and it apparently has been freed), there will be horror story after horror story about the brutality of al-Qaeda. And these stories will spread across the Muslim world and be the face of al-Qaeda. Just as the last attack by al-Qaeda in Diyala Province included the kidnapping of women and children as hostages (and one would suppose examples for al-Qaeda’s blood lust). Here is a small laundry list of the atrocities al-Qaeda thugs have imparted on the people of Diyala – they are getting to be well knowned for their brutal cruelty. It will be their undoing. The Muslim world will not want these people running (or more likely ruining) their lives. Only Democrats can see a bright future in letting these animals win in Iraq.