Apparently the people of Iraq have had enough:

“The U.S. strategy to build alliances with mostly Sunni tribal and local leaders has prompted 25,000 of their followers to turn away from the insurgency and at least nominally align with Iraq’s Shiite-led government in the fight against al-Qaeda.

The number, from the U.S. command in Iraq, represents the first stab at measuring the effectiveness of the tribal strategy. The trend is likely to be a critical part of a report due in September to Congress and the White House by the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus.

“I think it is the most significant thing that’s happened in the past couple years,” said Marine Maj. Gen. Mastin Robeson, deputy chief of staff for strategy and plans for Multi-National Force-Iraq. “They actually have come to us saying, ‘We want to join you, we want to fight al-Qaeda.’ ”

Iraq’s Shiite-dominated central government has taken almost no legislative action to resolve differences with minority Sunnis and broaden support for the government. The U.S. military’s tribal strategy is an effort to build links with groups, many of them armed, at the local level and tap into their hostility toward al-Qaeda.”

This is the way you win a country, by showing the people that the key to their own freedom is within their grasp. As the article states this can be fleeting as tribal loyalties can shift. But also as important the important thing to show them is that we are standing behind their efforts and that we won’t desert them, which means we cannot be talking about pulling out and leaving them to fend against this ruthless enemy by themselves.

What is making this possible is that the surge has delivered a serious can of whoop-ass to the insurgency. This can do nothing but encourage and embolden Sunnis to pick up the charge - again, so long as we’ve got their back.