Word: shying
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Lebanon war showed that Iraq has rewritten the rules in the Middle East, adding sectarian loyalties to the equation. But Lebanon - particularly the U.S. refusal to push for an early cease-fire as Shi'ite communities were pummeled - also cost the U.S. much of the goodwill it had gained among Shi'ites following the Iraq...
...change in Shi'ite fortunes has been resisted by Sunnis, nowhere more violently than Iraq, where the insurgency that continues to rage unchecked is as anti-American as it is aimed at intimidating Shi'ites who were perceived as U.S. collaborators. For two years Shi'ites showed remarkable restraint in the face of repeated provocations in the form of bloody terror attacks by Sunni insurgents, but the ferocity of those attacks eventually took its toll. And the Shi'ites did not take kindly to the U.S. strategy of wooing reluctant Sunni politicians to join the political process, which they took...
...Washington pressed Shi'a leaders to rein in their militias, but to no avail. They saw the Sunni insurgency as the source of the violence and insisted the U.S. focus on disarming it. Tensions increased as growing numbers of Shi'ites dismissed U.S. appeasement of Sunnis as a failure: The insurgency was stronger a year after Sunnis joined the political process...
...sectarian conflict in Iraq has implications for the whole Middle East. Long before Americans recognized sectarianism as a problem it was already shaping attitudes beyond Iraq's borders. Not long after Saddam fell from power, King Abdullah of Jordan warned of an emerging Shi'ite crescent stretching from Beirut to Tehran - emerging Shi'ite power and Sunni reaction to it was on everyone's mind in the region...
...King Abdullah's fear appeared to be confirmed by the month-long war in Lebanon in summer of 2006. The war turned Hizballah and Iran into regional power brokers, and brought jubilant Shi'ites into the streets in Iraq, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Traditional Sunni powers such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt found themselves pushed to the sidelines, unable to influence events. Even al-Qaeda was caught off-guard as it watched Hizballah steal some of its thunder. The reaction of Sunni rulers and radicals was swift: They denounced Hizballah's campaign as an Iranian-sponsored Shi'a power...