The longer the war in Iraq lasts the more Muslims, even fundamentalists, believe that Al Qaeda is not a blessing for Muslims and that the ‘Jihad’ against America is, in fact, a disaster. Strategy Page reports:

Three years ago, Saudi cleric Salman al Awdah, and 25 like-minded preachers, issued a religious ruling, that it was justifiable for Iraqis to fight American “invaders.” Al Awdah had also been a supporter of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. But now al Awdah has changed his tune, as have many of his supporters, and he has come out against Islamic terrorism. This has ignited a controversy on pro-Islamic terror web sites, because al Awdah has long been seen as a major supporter of bin Laden among the senior Saudi clergy. While the Saudi government has been pressuring senior clerics to at least stop encouraging Saudis to support al Qaeda, the switch to being anti-al Qaeda appears to be a recognition that most Moslems have come to view the slaughter of so many Iraqis by terrorists as beyond the pale.

Ed Morrissey wrote a post yesterday about another Muslim cleric and former-Al Qaeda intellectual, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif, who has turned against Al Qaeda. Sharif is “[t]he man who gave al-Qaeda its philosophical justifications for murderous jihad,” as Ed puts it, which means that this is a significant development.

Although once an Al Qaeda supporters, Sharif now believes that 9/11 has been a catastrophe for Muslims. The Sun reports:

In a serialized manifesto written from prison in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif is blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad by comparing the September 11 attacks to the early raids of the Ansar warriors. The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.

The disclosures from Mr. Sharif, also known as Dr. Fadl and Abd al-Qadir ibn Abd al-Aziz, have already opened a rift at the highest levels of Al Qaeda. The group’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, a former associate of the defecting theologian in Egypt, personally mocked him last month in a video, remarking that he was unaware Egyptian prisons had fax machines. Meanwhile, leading Western analysts are saying the defection of Mr. Sharif indicates the beginning of the end for Al Qaeda

Not only that, Sharif also accused Zawahiri of being a snitch and he says both Zawahiri and Osama Bin Laden are cowards.

One gets the impression that most fundamentalists thought that it would be a matter of a couple of years, with relatively few Muslim deaths. They now understand that the West, and especially the US, aren’t quite willing to let the Jihadis get away with terrorism and extremism and that this battle will cost the Muslim world more than it will cost the West.

Remember: most victims of Al Qaeda are Muslims. They’re the ones who are truly suffering.

Muslims everywhere realize this as well and are turning away from Al Qaeda, the Taliban, etc.

It’s hopeful.