The SurrenderMedia continues to carry al-Qaeda’s water for them by carrying every successful attack al-Qaeda pulls off (which are becoming few and far between). The good news is the sea change in Iraq has basically forced them to start reporting stories that tell the complete picture – the Iraqis standing up to al-Qaeda.

To me the biggest change, in addition to all the signals this war is heading to a victorious ending, is the fact that the current fighting is focused between al-Qaeda’s Islamo Fascists and the moderate Iraqi Muslims. What little fighting is going on is directed to the heart it Islam and its future.

As I have said, there will be days when al-Qaeda gets a good hit in. They did it again and took out 10 leaders of the Iraqi “Awakening”:

According to Reuters, the al Qaeda fighters drove up to the police patrol in the stolen Iraqi army vehicle before opening fire in an attack in the Hawr Rajab area of southern Baghdad’s Doura district. An Interior Ministry official confirmed that 10 “Awakening Council” members, a local anti-Qaeda front, had died. According to him, three Iraqi troops were also killed and another three were hurt.

The Neanderthal thinking going on inside the brutish al-Qaeda circles believe they can frighten or bludgeon Iraqis back into submission. That is a naive and dangerous assumption. Iraqis are some of the most literate and battle hardened people in the Middle East. But al-Qaeda tacticians apparently don’t have the IQ to see their actions are only strengthening the rising tide aligned against them.

For example, death threats against a lone independent radio station only stiffened the spine of its operator/owner:

Siham Mustafa sits behind a radio microphone and clutches a piece of paper. She is ready to fight. Earlier in the morning, al Qaeda in Iraq had hacked her radio station’s Web site and posted a letter promising “to kill everyone from Radio Dijla.”

It was the latest act of aggression against the renegade news and talk radio station that has overcome remarkable odds to remain one of the country’s few independent voices. Mustafa, an announcer for 37 years, reads the station’s prepared response. Then, she puts down the piece of paper and takes off her glasses. She pauses – dramatically – before launching into a spontaneous and soulful message.

“Iraq, you are in our hearts. Like the River Dijla, we will never stop!”

Another example was in the news today when a small Shiite village fended off an al-Qaeda attack clearly meant to restart the violence. But it failed:

A group of Al-Qaeda militants attacked the village of Al-Kulaiyah, 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of the restive city of Baquba early Thursday, police Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Abdullah told AFP.

Abdullah said the villagers from Shiite Al-Ambagiyah tribe defended themselves and in the ensuing clashes nine people were killed.

“Seven fighters from Al-Qaeda and two from the Ambagiyah tribe are killed in the gun battle that lasted an hour,” he told AFP.

One of the best examples is out of Ameriyah, where one of the last of al-Qaeda’s strongholds turned on the terrorists and purged them from the city:

The once-dreaded Al Qaeda in Iraq stronghold of Amariyah has a new boss, and he’s not shy about telling the story of the shootout that turned him into a local legend and helped change the tenor of the Iraq war.

Earlier this year, Abul Abed, a disgruntled Sunni insurgent leader, began secret talks with the Americans about ending Al Qaeda’s reign of terror in this run-down, formerly middle-class Baghdad neighborhood, renowned as one of the city’s most dangerous. He had been gathering intelligence on the group for months.

…

“Do you know who you are talking to?” said the White Lion, getting out of his car. “I am Al Qaeda. I will destroy even your own houses!”

He pulled out his pistol and shot at Abul Abed. The gun jammed. He reloaded and fired again. Again, the gun jammed.

By this time, Abul Abed said, he had pulled his own gun. He fired once, killing the White Lion.

Iraqi legends are being created in the fight against al-Qaeda. These stories of defiance and liberation are creating the new heroes of Iraq. The stories of success are rightfully starting to out number the stories about setbacks (see here and here for examples).

It all indicates a trend which is rapidly becoming fact. al-Qaeda has to fight the Iraqis now just to keep a toe-hold in Iraq. But every action against their fellow Muslims draws more and more Iraqis into the fight against them. They are losing support and gaining enemies. And now the battle in Iraq is for the future of Islam, and al-Qaeda is losing that battle too.