There is some semblance of progress in Iraq because the Sunnis are organizing into militias, or auxiliary police, or something. We first heard about this back in December, 2006, when Time reported on the activity in Anbar province, as Sunni tribes united to resist the push of al Qaeda in the west. I wrote about it in April.

This alliance grew, and spread to several other provinces. It worried the central government, which is heavily Shiite, because armed Sunnis would worry them. The US has invested some large sums of cash and weaponry in arming these tribes in Anbar, Diyala and Sala ad-Din provinces. It seems other Sunnis want to protect themselves, too, from the central government and from al-Qaeda. Earlier this week villagers fought off what were reported to be al-Qaeda gunmen.

BAGHDAD - Suspected al-Qaida fighters stormed two villages near Baqouba on Thursday, bombed the house of a local Sunni sheik and kidnapped a group of mostly women. Residents were finally able to drive off the attackers and end the deadly rampage.

Seventeen villagers, including seven women, were killed in the assaults roughly 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Ten al-Qaida gunmen also died.

The twin attacks near the Diyala provincial capital — the focus of recent major U.S.-Iraqi military operations against alleged al-Qaida fighters and Shiite militiamen — hit a Shiite village and a Sunni village with the same ferocity but apparently different motives.

The most remarkable thing is that apparently about 10 attackers died in the two battles. It might be more logical to believe there would be a greater disparity in casualties, because the gunmen had been prepared.

This is more likely to be the sort of success we will see in Iraq, if it comes at all, rather than Mr Bu$h's surge escalation. Iraqis banding together to fight off al Qaeda can foster a sense of political will. A small number of insurgents attacking the occupiers won’t unite the Iraqis unless we continue our present policy of shooting indiscriminately when attacked by the resistance. That causes civilian casualties, which just makes more insurgents. The American Army has trained to overcome resistance with overwhelming firepower – air assets being the first choice in Iraq – and in urban environments there is too great a chance of collateral damage. Killing four civilians to get 10 insurgents is a net loss for an occupying force.

Of course, arming the citizenry carries a certain hazard, as they say, because then the citizenry can not only fight off al-Qaeda (or perhaps the Indians,) they can also fight off the central government troops (or say, perhaps the British troops.)

All they would need is another George Washington, and another Baron von Steuben.

It’s beginning to more and more look like Nuri al-Maliki is not going to be Iraq’s George Washington. Iyad Allawi has been very busy lately, rubbing sticks of butter on the soles of Mr Maliki’s shoes. First, he withdrew his bloc from Parliament and the Cabinet, taking his bloc’s 25 Parliament seats and four of his five cabinet portfolios with him.

He has also hired a big name Republican lobbying house, Barbour, Griffith and Rogers, to say nice things about him in the halls of Congress so they’ll go along with the deal when Mr Bu$h has had enough of Prime Minster Maliki. BGR, by the way, will cost Mr Allawi $300,000 so you know he really wants the job.

The WaPo was instructed to give Mr Allawi his own editorial space on August 18th, so he could polish up his reputation in anticipation of being selected by Mr Bu$h to replace Mr Maliki.

By the way, just as a bit of inside baseball, Glenn Greenwald tells us how separate, discrete events seem to coalesce within the space/time continuum almost by magic.

Allawi hires the most powerful GOP firm in the country, with former top Bush officials as partners, and almost immediately, the key Op-Ed pages of our nation's newspapers open up to him and all of official Washington, beginning with the President, changes course. Suddenly, key figures in both parties begin calling for Maliki to be replaced.

Most extraordinary of all is how deceitful this whole process is. As CNN reports: "The lobbying firm boasts the services of two onetime foreign policy hands of President Bush: Ambassador Robert Blackwill, the former Deputy National Security Adviser, and Philip Zelikow, former counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

But currently, Zelikow in particular runs around Washington holding himself out -- and being held out -- as an Expert on the Future of Iraq while concealing that his firm is being paid by Allawi to undermine Maliki. As but one example, Zelikow was a featured Iraq Expert on ABC News with Charles Gibson three nights ago, on Monday Tuesday.

Reporter Martha Raddatz narrated the story which began (via LEXIS): "today, for the first time, President Bush said Maliki could be replaced." The story then flashed to Michael O'Hanlon, who said: "I think Mr. Bush made a very significant change in his policy today. He made it clear that his support for al-Maliki is on very thin ice."

Shortly thereafter, Raddatz said: "The former counselor to Secretary of State Rice says a plan B is now likely being considered," and then showed Zelikow -- identified on-screen only as a "Former Counselor to the State Department"

To which a cynical man could only say, “Harrumph, harrumph.” The fact that former counselor to the Secretary of State is a principal in a big lobbying firm is not so horrifying, but as it turns out, he’s also an “expert on Iraq” advising the White House, also.

Mr Zelikow is George Bu$h’s lead man in the campaign to get Nuri al-Maliki out of his job. Here’s hoping Mr Maliki leaves the job walking, and not being carried out feet first.

Harrumph, harrumph.