According to Iraqis... This Sunni vs. Shiite thing is US. BS.

[RethugAssKicker]

THe Iraqis I have heard, and believe, say that 50% of Iraqis are married to other Iraqis outside their sect... Sunnis married to Shiites. They say this idea of Sunni vs Shiite violence is being promoted by the US military, to divide and conquer.

Why then, are we all believing that the country is being torn apart by sectarian violence?

[Selatius]

1. It could give the US an excuse to stay in Iraq longer.

The federal government has said it would withdraw troops but not if there is still problems with stability. That's the catch-22.

[wtmusic]

2. Who are the Iraqis you've "heard"?

Always like to identify a source.

[RethugAssKicker]

8. One source I remember, was a group of Iraqi women

that came here to attend some type of summit.

I saw them on Amy Goodmans show Democracy Now..

But they weren't the only ones I heard this from!

[bryant69]

13. Could you provide links or evidence

It's not just the Bush Adminstration saying that there is sectarian violence.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[RethugAssKicker]

14. Oh, I know .. everyone, EXCEPT the Iraqis are saying it...

Again,

I think the "sectarian vilence" being reported is really

retaliation between Iraqis for co-operating with the enemy (USA).

Don't have any links right now... but will check

[bryant69]

15. I apologize for misspelling words

I'll look forward to seeing your evidence - I suppose that if I brought forth evidence of Iraqis saying that there was sectarian violence, you would suppose that those Iraqis were lapdogs of the United States?

[bryant69]

16. Still hoping to see that evidence

[RethugAssKicker]

17. A link:

Heres a link to AP article I received from a reply to this post...

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/14317836.htm

[annabanana]

19. This article doesn't exactly support your thesis...

(just sayin')

[bryant69]

21. Yeah exactly - I read that article already.

[RethugAssKicker]

22. Democracy Now ... March 6th show

Has the interview with the Iraqi women I mentioned.

[bryant69]

24. Thank you for the info - I'll look into it

[Skink]

3. We're uniters not dividers...

That's what we do.

[thefloyd]

4. Interesting

I spoke at length with an Iraqi Cab driver and he said there will not be civil war.

[acmavm]

6. No? I take it it's just target practice then.

[thefloyd]

12. I did not agree with him

Back of my mind civil war started 2 years ago.

[Sanity Claws]

5. Intermarriage was also common in the former Yugoslavia

yet it did not stop the civil war there either.
It was understood among all who studied the area that sectarian violence would ensue once Saddam Hussein was out. I don't think it's US Bullshit, although the US may be doing things to exacerbate the problem.

[RethugAssKicker]

10. Yeah.... but I think most of the violence

between the Iraqis, is retaliation for collaborating with the enemy(USA)...

We then report it as sectarian violence!

[Roland99]

7. If you read Baghdad Burning (Riverbend blog), that would be known already.

[magellan]

18. Yes! Everybody should read Baghdad Burning

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

[NNN0LHI]

9. I have been saying they intermarry along time around here

I have posted many articles here on the subject. Its true. Where did them British soldiers dressed like Arabs go?

Don

[sabra]

11. from an AP article:

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/14317836.htm

<snip>

Mohammed said these divisions were new.

"There was no such a thing as Shiite and Sunni before," he said, his checkered shirt and his hands blackened after a day at work repairing cars.

He blames the violence on the Americans and the Iraqi government for failing to provide security. His wife accuses Shiite Iran of fanning the flames of sectarianism and the Americans of sowing divisions.

At her brother's funeral, women mourners told Hassan a troubling story about a Shiite husband who divorced his Sunni wife in part because of the rising sectarian tensions.

"They told me 'Beware.' I told them we don't have such things at home."

[Kansas Wyatt]

20. It allows Iranian Shiites to be introduced to the 'War On Terror'

Iranian Shiites promoting civil war in Iraq is destroying America's effort to spread freedom. Iran must be bombed and conquered for messing up Iraq. Iran must also take the blame for the U.S. setting up permanent bases in Iraq, and for screwing up Iraq.:sarcasm:

[eissa]

23. My family is originally from Iraq

and this whole Shiite/Sunni thing is blown way out of proportion. Although we're Christian, I have many Muslim friends from both sects who find this whole divisive issue ridiculous. Most of them laugh at this so-called "Sunni triangle" -- they wonder why they never heard of this area when they were living in Iraq. The fact is that people from every sect are spread around across the country. Yes, certain areas have more of one group than the other, and yes there are those who are more sectarian and fan the flames of division. But overall, the groups have lived amongst each other and intermarried with one another for centuries.

[sandnsea]

25. "those who are more sectarian"

Exactly, and fanning the flames of division, and using the US presence as another excuse to fan those flames. I don't think there's anybody who doesn't get that. That's what the right wing means when they say most Iraqi's are happy to be rid of Saddam and want a democratic government. That's what they mean when they say US troops should stay, to keep the "flame fanners" from taking over. That's what Kerry means when he says withdrawing troops would remove the occupation excuse for the "flame fanners". People know it's the extremists making life difficult for everybody else, it's always that way. But Sadr has shown that extremists can sometimes gain an awful lot of power, especially when they're being supported and agitated by extremists in other countries and the leader of Iran is an extremist who is doing that.

If the differing views were no problem at all, Iraq would have a government by now and they don't. If the people of Iraq think it's all stupid, maybe they better inform their government.

[Xithras]

26. Sort of, here's another Iraqi's take on it.

As I've stated before, I work with several Iraqi's and Iranians, and they are an invaluable source of information. One in particular works a few feet from me, and I often ask him questions when I see the Iraq threads here. His take:

The violence is BOTH sectarian AND the fault of the US. It's true, what you said, that many Iraqi's marry outside their sect. The 50% number is a bit of an exaggeration (the real number is probably more like 15% to 25%), but it does happen.

This image, cultivated by the media, that Sunni's and Shiite are straining to kill each other is total bunk. The vast majority of Sunni's, and pracically all Shiite, want to live in peace with each other as they have done for a thousand years. What you have, however, are a very small minority of mostly Sunni militants who WANT a war. If the country was being run or policed with any kind of real effort, these people would be killed or captured very quickly, but US ineptitude has allowed them to gain formidable weapons caches and recruit a sizeable web of fighters and spies (though they're still an extreme minority within their own sect). These fighters have carried out numerous bombings, which has forced the Shiite to form their own primarily DEFENSIVE militias. They aren't interested in picking a fight with the Sunni's (they know they'd ultimately lose), but since the US and the Iraqi puppet government isn't defending them, they have to do it themselves.

The small minority of Sunni militants is trying to provoke a major Shiite incursion into a primarily Sunni area to "spark" some kind of wider scale uprising. Right now, however, most Iraqi's simply aren't interested in a sectarian war.

It's a law enforcement issue. Capture and imprison the small group of Sunni's who are driving this (no more than a couple thousand people, and possibly as few as several hundred), and the entire problem goes away. We won't do that right now because it's NOT POLITICALLY EXPEDIENT. We want conflict there, so we allow the Sunni's to keep attacking the Shiite. When the Shiite retaliate, we call it sectarian conflict and use it to justify continued occupation.

[RethugAssKicker]

27. Thanks.... very informative....But

this seems to place much of the blame only on the Sunnis. Makes sense though!

Thanks.

[seaglass]

28. The way things used to be and what they are becoming are

two different things.

The power struggle has created divisions with roots in both the Iraqi Consitution and the elections.

There was no Republican, Democratic, Green, Independent slate of candidates - it was Shiite, Sunni and Kurd. How many Sunnis do you think crossed over and voted for a Shiite slate? Or Shiite voted for a Sunni slate? or Kurd voted for anything other than Kurd?