Michael Yon has a second installment of his "Ghosts of Anbar" series:

Some of these men will admit they were insurgents who switched sides because they realized that they are more likely to get what they want with a stable government. Al Qaeda promised them everything under the baking sun, yet al Qaeda killed people who smoked—and Iraqis like to smoke. They killed people who had satellite dishes or televisions, but al Qaeda would be drinking and with prostitutes. Iraqis have told me some interesting anecdotes about the religious technicalities of prostitution. They are not supposed to have sex out of wedlock, so they marry the prostitute (and the house of ill-repute has the proper religious authority present to make the marriage), and then they divorce the prostitute after completing their business. Another rumor in the area is that al Qaeda tried to force shepherds to make their female sheep wear underwear. This is one I have heard all over Iraq.

We are winning, and what's more, we're developing a lot of skills for defeating an insurgency, that will stand us in good stead in the future.

But Al Qaeda is also self defeating, in much the way that the Nazis were when they invaded Russia, and particularly the Ukraine. All that Hitler had to do was not be quite as brutal and genocidal as Joe Stalin, and he couldn't manage it.

And support Yon's reporting. You're not going to get many stories and reporting like this from the so-called professionals.

Another rumor in the area is that al Qaeda tried to force shepherds to make their female sheep wear underwear.

Victoria's Secret possibly?

I wonder whether they had them shave as well.