Word: sunni
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...last week between U.S. troops, backed by Iraqi forces, and fighters loyal to the radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. But while al-Sadr's Mahdi militia represents a serious threat to Iraq's stability, an equally vexing challenge to Iraqi order is taking shape in the Sunni Muslim--dominated area northwest of Baghdad, where Sunni terrorists, Baathists and nationalists are thriving...
...after all, mostly an expeditionary force whose members are drawn from outside the city, and are not exactly well-loved within its native population or its clerical establishment - the result might be a long-term insurgency throughout the Shiite south and in the capital. Given the fact that Sunni insurgents are currently in effective control of Fallujah and are challenging for control of Ramadi, Samarra and even, somewhat audaciously, Mosul, a Shiite guerrilla campaign would severely stretch Coalition and Iraqi forces. And forcing the Allawi government to rely so heavily and directly on U.S. military power, as it has done...
...Sadrist uprising also coincides with escalating clashes over the past two weeks in a number of key cities north of Baghdad, where the Sunni insurgency shows no sign of abating. Allawi on Saturday announced an amnesty that had originally been planned to help disarm the Sunni insurgents and bring them into the political process, but pressure from the U.S. resulted in the offer being denied to anyone involved in attacks on U.S. forces - essentially gutting it of any serious potential to disarm the insurgents...
...found to be stuffed with patently false photocopied ballots. Six of the parties called for an investigation; the seventh stalked out, effectively invalidating the entire vote. Meanwhile, in an attempt to halt a process they feel unfairly benefits the Shi'ites and the Kurds, many from the disgruntled Sunni political establishment refused to show up at all. And groups with support in restive western Iraq charged that the conference served only the interests of the Americans. "We consider it all as a U.S. plan to control Iraq," said Sheik Jawad al-Khalisi, chairman of the Iraqi National Establishment Conference, which...
...Even if the two sides could come to some form of modus vivendi in Iraq, Afghanistan and even on the question of dealing with al-Qaeda - which, being an extremely sectarian Sunni movement remains, after all, a natural enemy of the Shiite regime in Tehran even if they share a common enemy in the U.S. - it's far from clear that the path of engagement can yield the desired result in terms of Iran's nuclear program. Analysts fear that Tehran may now be racing headlong to build a nuclear weapon despite international pressure to desist, possibly sparking a preemptive...