RUDE AWAKENING FOR THE LEFT:

A Powerful Awakening Shakes Up Iraqi Politics (Trudy Rubin, 12/13/07, Real Clear Politics)

Six months ago Sheikh Ali Hatem Ali Suleiman al-Dulaimi predicted that tribal leaders would defeat al-Qaeda in Anbar province, the Sunni tribal heartland. Now the young prince of the Dulaim, one of Iraq's largest tribes, exults that al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) has been driven out of Anbar by tribal fighters aided by American troops.

The sheikh receives guests in a large reception room decorated with historic photographs of his father and grandfather in traditional flowing robes, meeting respectively with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and King Faisal II of Iraq. A young man with a trim goatee, in a gray suit and open-collared shirt, Ali Hatem's hand is constantly hitting the "off" button on his cell phone.

That's because tribal sheikhs all over Iraq are constantly calling him for information about the movement in Anbar, sometimes called the Awakening (sahwa in Arabic). "People I've never heard of before want relations with the sahwa," says Ali Hatem. "The sahwa is not just an awakening of force but an awakening of heart and spirit, an awakening from sectarian hatred."

Perhaps. But what's certain is that the sahwa movement - which already has about 70,000 Sunni men under arms and may add 35,000 more - is a dramatic new element on the Iraqi scene.

The striking improvement in Iraq security is closely connected to the rise of these forces.

Democrats had an awful lot of eggs piled in the We-Can't-Win-the-War basket.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 12, 2007 12:00 AM