THE LONDON TIMES REPORTS ON DISSENSION IN THE AL QAEDA RANKS:

Fed up with being part of a group that cuts off a person’s face with piano wire to teach others a lesson, dozens of low-level members of al-Qaeda in Iraq are daring to become informants for the US military in a hostile Baghdad neighbourhood.

The ground-breaking move in Doura is part of a wider trend that has started in other al-Qaeda hotspots across the country and in which Sunni insurgent groups and tribal sheikhs have stood together with the coalition against the extremist movement.

“They are turning. We are talking to people who we believe have worked for al-Qaeda in Iraq and want to reconcile and have peace,” said Colonel Ricky Gibbs, commander of the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, which oversees the area.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Shawn Levasseur emails:

Hmm.. Looks like Al Queda hasn’t read the “If I were the evil overlord” list.

Brutalizing henchmen who are then motivated to turn on you has been a classic error of Batman villains.

And many others. But maybe we should try Rule 100.