An incredible story out of Iraq’s Anbar province from the New York Sun: “Iraqi Sheik Offers To Take Fight to Bin Laden”:

The leader of the tribal confederation that has fought to expel Al Qaeda from most of Iraq’s Anbar province is offering his men to help gin up a rebellion against Osama bin Laden’s organization along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

In an interview, Sheik Ahmad al-Rishawi told The New York Sun that in April he prepared a 47-page study on Afghanistan and its tribes for the deputy chief of mission at the American embassy in Kabul, Christopher Dell. When asked if he would send military advisers to Afghanistan to assist American troops fighting there, he said: “I have no problem with this; if they ask me, I will do it.”

In case you’ve never heard of Sheikh Rishawi or the Awakening, here’s a little background.

The movement known as the “Anbar Awakening” (Sahawah al-Anbar) began as early as 2006, at the height of al-Qaeda in Iraq’s influence in the country and was formed as a backlash against the brutal campaign of murder, rape, and intimidation that al-Qaeda had been unleashing on Iraqis in Anbar. They were joined by Sunni insurgent groups that had originally allied with al-Qaeda against the U.S. soon became sickened by al-Qaeda’s behavior and wanton killing of Iraqi civilians and turned against them, often coordinating efforts with U.S. and Iraqi government forces. 

Sheik Abdul Sattar Al-Rishawi [younger brother of the aforementioned Ahmad al-Rishawi]  and his allies among the tribes and anti al Qaeda insurgent groups began forming alliances in the spring and summer of 2006. In September, the groups established the Jazeera Council in Ramadi, and began working more closely with Coalition forces to begin securing neighborhoods in Ramadi. The Sahawah Al Anbar, which followed the success of the Jazeera Council, was formed in October. The Awakening provided the disparate groups with a political platform, and began to work closely with the Coalition and establishing ties with the Iraqi government.

You can read more about the rise of the Anbar Awakening here.

The success of the Anbar Awakening in fighting and defeating al-Qaeda in the Anbar province inspired General Petreaus and U.S. commanders to try to emulate the model throughout Iraq — with astounding success. “Awakening” chapters have been established by anti-al-Qaeda tribes and factions in provinces throughout the country.

The Awakening movement, formed to protect local communities from al-Qaeda, has been so popular among Iraqi Sunnis that it has become a political force of its own. The Awakening coalition is poised to unseat the Sunni parties (dominated by the Iraqi Islamic Party) that currently hold seats in the Iraqi Parliament in the upcoming provincial and federal elections.

The Awakening’s growing success and influence has also made it a target. Awakening leaders have been routinely targeted for assassination by al-Qaeda, and many have lost their lives. The movement, however, refused to be cowed by al-Qaeda’s terror tactics, and in each case, the death of a prominent Awakening sheikh has only strengthened the tribal coalition’s resolve to rid their country of al-Qaeda.

Sheikh Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi himself was assassinated by an al-Qaeda IED on September 13, 2007. He was widely regarded as a hero throughout Iraq, and so revered that the Iraqi interior minister dedicated a statue in his honor on the road from Baghdad to Anbar. After his death, his brother, Sheikh Ahmad, showed inspiring courage:

“The martyrdom of Sattar will not affect this council because every member of this council has the same beliefs and the same motivations and this sad incident will not stop them from moving forward,” said Sheik Risha. “Although they killed Sattar, there are a million Sattars in Anbar.”

Sheikh Ahmad, who has led the Awakening movement since his brother’s murder, is proud of what the Awakening has accomplished, and said during his recent trip to Washington that he hopes Hollywood will make a movie about his brother’s life.

Sheikh Ahmad told the NY Sun that, “Al Qaeda is an ideology. We can defeat them inside Iraq and we can defeat them in any country.”

And apparently he is willing to send his troops to Afghanistan to help do just that.

General Petraeus, now head of Central Command, has already said that he would like to explore the possibility of replicating the Awakening model to fight al-Qaeda in the lawless tribal region on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, an area where al-Qaeda has established its new base of operations.

While the situation in Iraq has improved dramatically since the start of the “surge” in mid-2007, with a steady decline in U.S. casualties, insurgent attacks, and sectarian violence that has left even the most skeptical observers optimistic about Iraq’s future, conditions in Afghanistan have deteriorated during that same period. The Taliban is resurgent and Afghan violence skyrocketed in 2007, with 7,000 people killed — around 3,000 of them civilians. Nearly 1,000 Afghan police were killed in the line of duty. U.S. forces lost 110 troops — the highest-ever annual toll since the war began in 2001. British forces took 41 casualties, and recently topped the symbolic “100″ mark, which has sparked debates in Britain between those for and against keeping British troops in Afghanistan.

Overall, Afghan violence in 2007 rose 33 percent over incidents reported in 2006, an alarming increase that is likely to repeat itself this year. Already [as of June 7, 2008] attacks are up nearly 40 percent compared to the first 13 weeks of last year, with the biggest increase occurring in the eastern provinces bordering the restive tribal states of Pakistan.

This is the reason for Gen. Petraeus’ focus on the border region of Pakistan, and for Sheikh Ahmad’s offer to assist in the fight against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The backlash against al-Qaeda’s brutality and savagery is not confined only to Iraq, however. Polls show that even in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan — two nations generally considered to have populations most sympathetic to the movement — there has been a dramatic drop in support. A January 2008 study found that fewer than 1 in 10 Saudis have a favorable view of al-Qaeda today. In Pakistan, those that had a favorable opinion of al-Qaeda dropped from 34% in August 2007 to just 18% in 2008, and positive views of Osama bin Laden dropped from 45% to 24%.

What can explain this? Growing questions among Islamic populations about al-Qaeda’s ideological legitimacy and resentment over its indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians – especially Muslims — have no doubt played a role.

Could it also be due in part to the success that the Awakening movement in Iraq has had in defeating an al-Qaeda movement that was increasingly shown to be savage, morally depraved, hypocritical, and inept at governing? It’s not beyond belief.