As Anbar went through its final transition from al-Qaeda strong hold to al-Qaede hell hole there was one last burst of violence from al-Qaeda. It seems to be their way to increase their abysmal and brutal mistakes that led to their defeart in the first place. In that same pattern we see al-Qaeda attacking more Sunni tribal leaders – forcing those tribes into a position of retribution and revenge on al-Qaeda:

A roadside bomb near the central Iraqi city of Samarra Thursday seriously wounded a tribal sheikh involved in fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq and killed five of his bodyguards, police said.

The car of Sheikh Maawia Naji Jebara from Tikrit in central Salaheddin province was destroyed in the blast, a senior police officer said.

Jebara is a senior member of the Salaheddin Awakening Council, a coalition of tribes in the Tikrit district formed to fight Al Qaeda.

As I have written before, al-Qaeda will have a good day now and again. In this later NY Times report (which cannot miss a chance to sneak in the Blackwater issue to any and all reports) we leanr the Sheik died and this was one of three attacks:

A police chief, a government official and a tribal leader who allied with American forces were killed in separate attacks across Iraq on Thursday.

In the controversy over private security contractors, the United States Embassy in Baghdad said that a preliminary report would be delivered Friday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the Sept. 16 killing of 17 Iraqis when Blackwater guards fired into a crowded city square. It will be the first official American account of the episode.

Extremist attacks in Salahuddin Province north of Baghdad continued on Thursday, taking the life of the deputy tribal leader of the province’s Awakening Council, whose convoy was blown up by a roadside bomb near Samarra. Moawiya Jebara, the tribal leader, and five of his bodyguards were killed.

The Awakening Council in Salahuddin, like similar groups in Anbar Province and the Abu Ghraib area, is a group of Sunni Arab tribal leaders who have decided to work with the Americans and the Iraqi government to defeat extremist militants.

Emphasis mine. Note the totally irrelevant Blackwater paragraph? Classic propaganda tactic. Put irrelevant information in the midst of an article about something totally tangential. It is a crude and juvenile attempt at propaganda – but it is one no matter how badly done.

But one good hit from al-Qaeda doesn’t offset the repeated pounding we are giving them (nor will it save the NY times). al-Qaeda has turned, and continues to turn, so many Iraqis against themthe Muslim street is now very dangerous to them:

An al-Qaeda in Iraq effort to reestablish a position in the southern Baghdad province town of Hawr Rajab was repulsed when concerned local citizens engaged the terrorists with small arms fire and called in U.S. forces for assistance Oct. 2.

…

The U.S. Soldiers moved into town to find the concerned citizens already engaged in small-arms fire with AQI terrorists hiding in a boys’ school. After the brief engagement, the terrorists were observed fleeing the scene in a blue truck.

al-Qaeda finds it dangerous to be out in public in Iraq and we are the 911 call the locals make when al-Qaeda shows up. That is still stunning turn of events in my opinion. Liberals may not get it – but then they don’t get a lot of things. But there is one thing they cannot deny anymore. Iraq is much more dangerous to Islamic extremists than to Americans right now.

The U.S. military said 25 insurgents were killed in an airstrike Friday morning on a village near Baquba, but Iraqi authorities said civilians, including women and children, were among those killed.

The military said the airstrike followed a heavy firefight with insurgents using assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

An Interior Ministry official told CNN on Friday that the strike on a Shiite village called Jizan Imam, 18 miles (30 kilometers) west of Baquba, killed 20 and wounded 27. Eight other people were reported missing.

The U.S. statement said the operation targeted a commander, suspected of having links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, who was “involved in the movement of various weapons from Iran to Baghdad.”

Both Shiia extremists and Sunni extremists allied with al-Qaeda are feeling the heat. And it seems more and more evident the locals are fed up with these violent radicals and welcome their destruction. As to the women and children being killed, Islamo Fascist use innocent people as shields. It is not unreasonable they have come to the conclusion that they need women and children around to provide media stories when they are attacked and killed. It would explain all the recent kidnappings. The jihadis are willing to die and take anyone with them. Clearly they would hold hostages so that when the US attacks there will always be dead women and children among the bodies in order for others to play it up in the media. When you see women and children caught in crossfires in Iraq one has to remember al-Qaeda butchers them in the open streets when the media is not looking.

The US continues to cut al-Qaeda off from the outside world. They have rolled up 6 media centers used by al-Qaeda to get their news out and request recruits.

Al-Qaeda’s media output in Iraq dipped starting five or six weeks ago, Katz says, but it has since recovered.

The group often uses the Internet to raise money and attract recruits, the U.S. military says. Al-Qaeda’s militants are ordered to film every attack they conduct on coalition or Iraqi forces, Bacon says. Music is often added to the edited package, for effect.

For some Arab viewers who don’t regularly view Western media, the overwhelming impression from the videos could be that militants are winning. The benefit for militants is to turn a single attack into a larger strategic weapon.

The death by a thousand small cuts continues for al-Qaeda. And for those interested there was some news regarding al-Qaeda letters the US found and released between al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq which demonstrate the pressure they are falling under as their support collapses. These are from years ago, so one can only imagine what is happening to them today.