Word: sunnis
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...Hussein. As commander of the 1st Cavalry, Chiarelli experienced the first spasm of the Shi'ite revolt when, in the summer of 2004, Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army fought pitched battles against U.S. forces in Baghdad and Najaf. But the main vector of violence in Iraq was the Sunni insurgency, supported by foreign jihadis...
...Another key chairman-to-be, Joseph Biden, who will take over the Foreign Relations Committee in January, was miffed that the commission dismissed his proposal to federalize Iraq, setting up Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish regions run by largely autonomous governments. Shortly after the 96-page report's public release, Biden issued a lengthy critique of its recommendations. The changes the commission proposed, Biden complained, "are necessary, but not sufficient to achieve the objective most Americans share: to leave Iraq without leaving chaos behind." The commission's proposal to beef up U.S. military trainers embedded in Iraqi units while withdrawing...
...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...
...President Bush's recent visitor, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, are also keen to see the Americans back off. With U.S. forces no longer in charge, there will be no restraining the Shi'ite militias - including those controlled by al-Sadr and al-Hakim - from bullying and butchering the Sunni minority. In Washington, al-Hakim was careful to emphasize he doesn't want Americans to leave. But Shi'ite leaders want the U.S. to focus on defeating the Sunni insurgency, not on the Shi'ite militias...
...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...