U.S. Turns Tips Into Military Success

The Army announced today that it captured the ringleader of a rocket attack on an American base last month thanks to a tip from an Iraqi.

"They are bringing these tips to us, telling us there is a bad guy here, a bad guy there, there's a cache there, and we are going out and killing and capturing them," said Col. Wayne Grigsby of the 3rd Infantry Division.

One hundred more helicopters were sent into Iraq as part of the surge, and in the last seven weeks have killed 63 of the enemy, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

Overall, the U.S. military claims 2,000 al Qaeda operatives have been killed this year. But the surge deserves only partial credit.

"It didn't create the dynamic that's most responsible for our progress against al Qaeda in Iraq. That came before the surge actually got there," says Steven Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Biddle says the tide turned against al Qaeda when Sunni tribes came over to the American side. One U.S. commander says tribal chiefs can do things he can't.

"I could spend an entire day emphasizing the importance of security and the need to join the police and army, but get nowhere," says Col. John Charlton of the 3rd Infantry Division. "But if the sheiks step forward and if they tell their young men to join the Iraqi police and the Iraqi Army, you can bet that it's going to happen."

Tips from Iraqis are leading to a growing number of air strikes, but as one senior military officer put it, "we can't kill our way out of this."

"Even if every last al Qaeda operative in Iraq were killed or captured tomorrow morning, the underlying problems, sectarianism and factionalism, would still be there and would still be driving a lot of violence," Biddle said.

The U.S. could win the battle against al Qaeda and still lose the war.