Something you will not see on the main stream media

The Washington Times today has an interesting article about the latest developments in Ramadi. In it, the author, Pamela Hess, states,

By a U.S. count, 12 of the Ramadi area's 21 tribes are cooperating in the security effort, six are considered neutral, and three are actively hostile. That is almost the reverse of the tribal posture last June, when three were cooperative and 12 were hostile.

She further states,

The tribes sent hundreds of young men to join the police -- more than 1,000 in December and more than that last month, a record recruiting effort for the province.

The insurgency was born in this area. We are now witnessing the death of the insurgency in this area, and soon the rest of the country.

The troop surge is coming at precisely the right time.

More and more tribal leaders are coming online with the new democratic government. What we are seeing in Ramadi is just a microcosm of what is happening in several other regions.

Sadr is on the lamb in Iran. The Iraqi government is trying to form a new coalition without his members.

Attacks in Baghdad have dropped dramatically despite not all forces being set in position yet.

Iraqi security force strength continues to grow, and they operate more and more independently everyday.

The young Iraqi government is starting to govern.

It will be interesting to see what this new democracy looks like in a year.