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By Richard Fernandez

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August 20, 2008 - 5:34 pm - by Richard Fernandez
Doug
2008-08-22 01:13:28

Comment @ Eggplant’s link:
Rhyno327, no I don’t believe the Sunnis have any intention of fighting us again.
In fact we are their only strong ally in Iraq right now, which is part of the reason why now the religious Shia want a timetable for us to leave.

The Maliki government is trying to dissolve the Sons of Iraq program and include only a handful of their members in the security forces. That could however give al-Qaeda a chance to come back in large parts of Northern Iraq given the power vacuum as the ISF is probably two years away from being able to secure all these areas.

I really believe the current Iraqi government for all its non sectarian talk is very sectarian and will treat the Sunnis not much better then Saddam treated the Shia when we leave.
That is why a free and fair election at the local and national elections over the next year is so very important. These elections the U.S. needs to monitor closely and keep the parties in power from fixing the result.

The Shia tribes want to challange the religious parties for power just lke the Sunni tribes. The next election could usher in a much more non-sectarian government that doesn’t view most Sunnis as ex-Saddamists and the enemy as certain advisors of Maliki seem to.