http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=106&ncid=742&e=4&u=/nypost/20030829/cm_nypost/poeticjusticeiniraqPOETIC JUSTICE IN IRAQ?
Fri Aug 29, 2:47 AM ET
Almost all the U.S. and coalition casual ties in post-war Iraq have been in flicted in the so-called "Sunni Triangle," which includes Baghdad and the towns to the north and west of the capital. The region is predominantly Sunni Muslim; it was and still seems to be sympathetic to Saddam Hussein.
(snip)
More to the point, the Sunnis seem also not to realize that coalition forces are all that stand between them and the bloody vengeance of the people they oppressed for three decades: the Shi'ites of the south and the Kurds of the north who together form a majority in Iraq. If the Americans were to pull out of Iraq prematurely, it's likely that the Shi'ites would fall upon the Sunnis in a civil war that would make Lebanon's look like child's play, with casualty numbers out of Rwanda.
Yet the tribes who grew fat and prosperous during the Saddam dictatorship continue to push for just that. If murderous attacks continue on coalition forces in the triangle, perhaps the coalition should consider arming a Shi'ite militia and allowing it to "pacify" Baghdad and the Sunni triangle.
There would be a certain irony to this.