Word: ites
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Iraq, it is big news when a Shi'ite leader extols the virtues of Sunni fighters. But that is what happened just a few days ago, on Dec. 21, when Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of Iraq's largest Shi'ite political party, offered some praise for the mostly Sunni volunteers who have been key to this year's dramatic drop in insurgent violence. "They are practicing an honorable role, they are expressing the unity of Iraqis in confronting the enemies of Iraq...
...truth, Baghdad is nothing like normal and still some distance from safe. The number of sectarian killings is down, but few Sunnis dare to venture into Shi'ite neighborhoods, and vice versa. U.S. military commanders, whose efforts have led to the sharp reduction in violence, have been cautioning against reading too much into the statistics. "Nobody says anything about turning a corner, seeing lights at the end of tunnels, any of those phrases," General David Petraeus told journalists on Dec. 6. "There's nobody in uniform who is doing victory dances in the end zone...
...about the success of the military surge strategy. Iraqis living in exile don't need to be told it's too soon to celebrate. Most carry terrible memories of the violence that forced them to flee in the first place. Many refugees lost loved ones, either to the Shi'ite mobs that rampaged unchecked through the streets of Baghdad several times last year or to reprisal killings by Sunni insurgents. The Awadis were lucky: they had fair warning. Adnan still remembers the strong body odor of the six armed men from the Shi'ite Mahdi Army militia who walked into...
...military has recruited thousands of Sunni insurgents to join the fight against jihadist groups like al-Qaeda, but the Shi'ite militias mainly responsible for last year's sectarian carnage remain largely untouched. In August, Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Mahdi Army, ordered it not to attack American troops. But U.S. commanders on the ground know there was no goodwill behind the decision. "It wasn't because Sadr saw Jesus--let's put it that way," says Major Christopher Coglianese, a staff officer in Baghdad. More likely, the Mahdi Army is waiting for the Americans to begin their drawdown...
...officials say Sunni "concerned citizens" groups (a euphemism for armed groups that protect Sunni areas) are examples of "bottom-up reconciliation." The officials say the best way to keep the Sunni fighters from returning to the insurgency is to integrate them into official Iraqi forces, just as the Shi'ite militias have been. But many Shi'ite leaders see Sunni groups as a long-term threat--a fifth column within the armed forces. The distrust is so deep that many Sunni fighters injured in battles against al-Qaeda have to be taken to U.S. military hospitals because they would...