In New Iraq, Sunnis Fear a Grim Future

[acmavm]

Once Dominant, Minority Feels Besieged
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, December 22, 2003; Page A01

<snip>

BAGHDAD, Dec. 21 -- The Bridge of the Imams draws together two Baghdads and divides two Iraqs.



Arching over the Tigris River, the overpass ends in Kadhimiya, a Shiite Muslim neighborhood built around the gold-domed shrine of a descendant of the prophet Muhammad. On Friday, the neighborhood pulses with promise. Pilgrims crowd its intersections, sidewalks overflow with money-changers, jewelers and kiosks brimming with hummus, cardamom and olives. Slogans written on the walls declare deposed president Saddam Hussein an infidel, and newspapers celebrate the capture of the man they call the tyrant.

At the other end of the bridge is Adhamiya, a grim Sunni Muslim neighborhood where the venerated Abu Hanifa Mosque is shielded behind eight steel barricades. Its twin minarets, clock tower and brick walls bear the scars of war. The slogans along the neighborhood's streets, where many of the shops are shuttered, convey nostalgia and anger. "Long live Saddam," reads one, scrawled in black. "Jihad is our way," declares another. A dozen or so men carrying AK-47 rifles sit atop the mosque's roof and patrol the street below, casting wary glances toward the bridge and the celebrations beyond.

"The future? What's the future?" asked one of the guards, Ammar Abu Nour Quds. "We don't have any future."

-MORE-

[grok]

1. Chickens come home to roost

In case anybody wanted a link to the above article..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20116-2003Dec21.html

A couple supporting articles..
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ff%3D/news/archive/2003/12/20/international0647EST0469.DTL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A16407-2003Dec19?language=printer

----

In some ways it reminds me of South Africa and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Where A majority has been put down and demeaned for years by a minority. And the tables are suddenly turned. It's going to get ugly.

Grok