Word: sectarians
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...true, the surge just isn’t working.” But the Republicans said they saw things differently, describing the military success of the surge as a necessary step to achieving political stability in Iraq. “Most certainly the surge has worked in cutting sectarian violence down,” Feng said, calling the Democrats’ suggestion for multinational diplomacy to stabilize Iraq a “peachy keen solution that doesn’t work in the long run or the real world...
...country, with another two million internally displaced. This means that, for those who remain, the numbers of doctors, professors, university teachers, engineers and technicians available to them sinks by the day. Meanwhile, central government has more or less ceased to exist, leaving the provision of social services to local sectarian strong-men and their militias who allocate these services on a mainly religio-political basis. In short, most Iraqis now live in localities governed by groups with insistent religious agendas...
...Iraq, perhaps for better, but probably for worse, has become a state with a sectarian political system much like that of Lebanon. This means that, in any election, the majority of people will vote along sectarian lines to elect leaders of their own community. It is then the task of these same leaders to reach a consensus amongst themselves over power-sharing and the division of government resources. The fact that Iraq possesses huge revenues from oil should, in ideal circumstances, make this process that much easier...
...have been pursuing formulas. Both the American government, the American military, the Iraqi politicians, the elected leadership there have been caught up in finding formulas. How many Shi'ites in cabinet? How many Sunnis? Should a Sunni be president? Should a Shi'ite be prime minister? These kinds of sectarian mathematics don't work. They didn't work in Lebanon, they won't work in Iraq. I'm looking for straws in the wind. I'm looking for actual improvements where they can be measured. If people are coming back, you can measure that...
Another Shi'ite guerrilla fighter interviewed by TIME offered a similar account, though he considered his group nationalist rather than sectarian. Says Abu Mohammed of his trainers in Iran: "They all speak perfect Arabic with a Lebanese accent. But we found out when we asked that they are either Quds Force or Iranian intelligence." Mohammed and his group, however, later lost interest in attacking coalition troops and eventually parted ways with their Iranian handlers...