Word: shying
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...changes aren't made soon in U.S. policy to reverse Iraq's deteriorating situation, the study group warns, the consequences could be apocalyptic: Iraq's government will collapse, likely sparking a "humanitarian catastrophe." Unfriendly neighbors such as Syria and Iran could intervene. The Sunni-Shi'a war in Iraq could spread to the rest of the Middle East. The global standing of the United States could plummet. And the American public, already divided over the war, could become even more polarized...
...Whatever the truth behind Mahmoud's death, it was not an isolated incident but came amid outbreaks of violence in several mixed Sunni-Shi'ite areas of Beirut this week that have left dozens injured and inflamed sectarian tensions. Hundreds of Lebanese troops have deployed in Beirut's trouble spots. But using the Lebanese Army in this way is untenable, warned its commander, General Michel Suleiman. Suleiman says that sectarian violence "drains the army's resources and weakens its neutrality," and warned, "This weakness will make the army unable to control the situation in all areas of Lebanon...
...Sunni-Shi'ite battle is also being fought out on the airwaves, where the Hariri-owned Future TV and Hizballah's Al-Manar network have been accusing their sectarian rivals of stoking the conflict. A key Sunni cleric, Sheikh Ali al-Jozo, the mufti of Mount Lebanon, has repeatedly attacked Hizballah, describing Nasrallah as a "dictator" and accusing him of advancing a foreign, Syrian-Iranian agenda...
...Sunni regimes of the Middle East, fearing that their traditional dominance of the Arab world is being challenged by an expansionist Shi'ite Iran in coordination with allies such as Syria, Hizballah and Hamas, have rallied to support Siniora's embattled government, underlining the sense that there is more at stake than a parochial tussle over power sharing in Lebanon...
...Still, the notion of a "Shi'ite crescent" emerging in the Middle East may be based more on Sunni fears than Shi'ite ambitions. The anti-Western alliance, which includes Sunni Palestinians, is more political than religious in nature, motivated by antipathy toward Israel and a determination to rid the region of U.S. influence. Hizballah calculates that by toppling the Western-backed government in Beirut, U.S. influence in Lebanon and the wider region will be curbed. The conflict playing out in Lebanon, then, may not simply be based on the country's age-old sectarian tensions, but in a regional...