LESSON FOR NEXT TIME--FEWER TROOPS WITHDRAWN SOONER:

Sources: Militants change minds, fight al-Qaida (BASSEM MROUE, 3/10/06, Chicago Sun-Times)

Residents reported curious declarations hanging from mosque walls and market stalls recently in Ramadi, the Sunni Muslim insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad. The fliers said Iraqi militants had turned on and were killing foreign al-Qaida fighters, their one-time allies.

A local tribal leader and Iraq's Defense Ministry have said followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, have begun fleeing Anbar province and Ramadi, its capital, to cities and mountain ranges near the Iranian border.

''So far we have cleared 75 percent of the province and forced al-Qaida terrorists to flee to nearby areas,'' said Osama al-Jadaan, a leader of the Karabila tribe. [...]

Relations between residents and the foreign fighters started to sour, however, when the foreigners started killing Iraqis suspected of having links to the Americans or even for holding a government job.

The rift became an outright split four months ago, with a wave of assassinations and bombings that killed scores of Anbar residents.

''We were fed up with the situation,'' said one Ramadi resident, complaining about closed roads, unemployment and a lack of security. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared for his life.

Only the "occupation" has given the insurgents a veneer of legitimacy.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 10, 2006 9:16 AM