Word: sunnis
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...relatively flat trajectory of progress, have shown that American involvement isn’t improving the situation. A case in point is the 12-foot wall on which the United States military began construction in mid-April. According to original plans, it would stretch three miles through Baghdad, separating Sunni and Shiite areas. The barrier was conceived as part of a new strategy to address sectarian violence through physical separation but has largely backfired, viewed by many Sunni Iraqis as discriminatory and opposed by many in the Iraqi parliament. That the U.S. military must resort to a strategy involving...
...past, Harith al-Dari and other AMS figures have given at least tacit backing - and occasionally open support - to al-Qaeda, believing the terror group would help the Sunni insurgency achieve its goal of driving American forces from Iraq. But in recent months, many Sunni leaders have grown uncomfortable with al-Qaeda's indiscriminate bombing campaign, which targets Iraqi civilians more often than U.S. forces. Now, al-Dari says, insurgent groups "have changed their view of Al-Qaeda...
...senior cleric's attitude toward al-Qaeda has changed, al-Dari says he has not softened his view of the U.S. presence in Iraq. "The occupation cannot continue," he says. "As long as the Americans are in Iraq, there will be violence." Like other Sunni leaders - and some Shi'ite ones - he wants the Bush Administration to set a timetable for a withdrawal...
...November, the Interior Ministry issued a warrant for his arrest. Ever since, he has divided his time between several Arab states, monitoring al-Maliki's actions from afar. Not even the Prime Minister's recent decision to allow many former Baath Party officials back into government has impressed the Sunni cleric. "They are inviting the former Baathists to register their names, but you know what will happen after that," he says, alluding to the murder of many former officials by Shi'ite death squads accused of operating under government protection...
...Like many other Sunni leaders, al-Dari says al-Maliki's efforts at sectarian reconciliation have been empty promises. "All he does is say, 'Come and join us,' " he says. "But he doesn't change any of the things that make us feel we are being victimized by his administration." For there to be any meaningful reconciliation, he says, the government must first dismantle the interior and defense ministries, which are currently controlled by Shi'ite parties, and bring back some senior officers from the old army. "Once these ministries are under the control of professionals instead of sectarian interests...