God almighty, this thinking drives me crazy:
In Syria, sectarianism is a byproduct of four decades of Alawite minority rule; in Iraq, power has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of the Shia majority or a segment thereof through the manipulation of electoral outcomes, thus fueling Sunni discontent based on an acute feeling of political discrimination. Secondly, while the Syrian crisis is homegrown and the result of indigenous authoritarian rule by family and sect, the Iraqi counterpart is a product of foreign invasion that led not only to regime change and almost a decade of foreign occupation, but also to near-total state failure. This last outcome led to the abdication by the state of providing security to its citizens, thus forcing individuals and families to take refuge in sectarian solidarities as a survival strategy.
What a load of garbage as an exercise in excuse-making for Iraq's Sunni Arabs.
Does the author not recognize that the source of sectarianism in Iraq is decades of Saddam's exceptionally brutal minority Sunni Arab rule which followed centuries of Sunni Arab minority rule in general over the Shias?
Fancy that, when based on electoral results, the majority Shia have won power! Will freaking wonders never freaking cease?
As for blaming our invasion and occupation? My God. He could work for Center for American Progress with an attitude like that. Our invasion deposed the minority-run Saddam government and allowed the Kurds and Shias to participate in an imperfect democracy. Our so-called occupation consisted of helping the newly free Iraqis resist the Baathists, pro-Iran Sadrists, and invading al Qaeda. Maybe the sectarian slaughter that the Iranians and Syrians fueled beginning in 2006 had something to do with the bad blood, eh? Maybe state failure had something to do with the fact that the Sunnis monopolized power and there were few Shias with the education and experience to run a government from day one.
Saying the Iraqi government "abdicated" responsibilities to protect their citizens implies that it was the government's fault rather than the problem of coping with well-financed and brutal killers backed by Syria and Iran--including al Qaeda--who slaughtered Iraqis during 2006 and 2007.
During the Iraq War insurgencies phases, I sometimes despaired about the issue of the Sunni Arabs taking the opportunity to escape the consequences of their bloody and cruel rule over the Shias and Kurds by switching sides and accepting a role more suitable to their numbers in a new, democratic Iraq where our influence could help protect minority rights within a democratic system. Over and over, the Sunni Arabs chose to fight, leading me to wonder if the Iraqi Sunni Arabs would seize the mantle of Most Self-Destructive People in the world from the Palestinians.
In the Awakening, they finally had some sense pounded into their skulls by the example of the jihadis they embraced in 2004 who turned on the Sunni Arabs, too, as Islamist fanatics always do.
But now as the memories of that debacle fade and the fantasy belief that the Sunni Arabs really are a majority in Iraq ("Everyone I know is Sunni!") who are being screwed by the Shia minority rises, the Sunni Arabs are risking a fight one more time.
And we aren't there to limit Shia (and Kurdish anger, although the Kurds are more likely to withdraw into their mountains than strike back). Why isn't anybody in America eager to ask "why do they (the Shias) hate them (the Sunni Arabs)?" Because there are good answers to that one. I find it amazing that the Shias and Kurds didn't drive the Sunni Arabs out of Iraq altogether, given the bloodshed that the Sunni Arabs inflicted on the Shia majority and the Kurds.
And now the Sunni Arabs seem like they want to give the Shias the opportunity to correct what is starting to seem like a major mistake. And America won't be there to protect the Sunni Arabs from their mind-boggling stupidity. I say, get that trophy ready. The New Palestinians could soon be born in Anbar province.
We have lots of problems to deal with in Iraq. The poor oppressed Sunni Arabs aren't one of them. And if they keep up their renewed campaign of violence, they'll earn something to be sorry about. With the Sunnis revolting in Syria, maybe the Iraqi Shias will drive Iraq's Sunni Arabs into Syria to enjoy their new homeland.
The author of the pathetic attempt to inspire sympathy for the Sunni Arabs is a clown, of course. Echelon above reality is strong in this one.
