Word: sectarianism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...sign. Sadr surfaced in Ankara ostensibly to discuss the situation in Iraq with top Turkish leaders, including President President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey is a predominantly Sunni country, many observers noted, and maybe the militant Shi'ite warlord was making a show of nascent sectarian reconciliation. "The attitude is good," says al-Jubouri, a member of the Sunni political bloc known in Arabic as Tawafiq. "But so far it's all talk, we need to see actions...
...last year as the militia struggled to fend off a crackdown by strengthened Iraqi security forces. But dormant fighters with the group say they are ready to take to the streets again if Sadr sends out the call, a prospect that has many in Baghdad increasingly worried lately as sectarian violence appears to be inching upward...
...country has already been through its share of political turmoil—culminating last year in gunfights in the streets of Beirut. Political leaders then headed to Doha and negotiated a power-sharing agreement in order to calm sectarian tensions...
Since then, Iraq has done little to encourage accountability for alleged human-rights abuses by Iraqi security forces working with Shi'ite militias at the height of the sectarian killings. General David Petraeus, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq, and former Baghdad Ambassador Ryan Crocker repeatedly quarreled with al-Maliki on the matter throughout 2008, pressing the Prime Minister to clear the way for the trial of at least one senior Ministry of Interior official accused of orchestrating prison abuses and murders. Al-Maliki resisted the U.S. pressure and largely seemed unconcerned about investigating a myriad of cases...
...near term, the Mahdi Army does not look poised to reassert itself in Baghdad or elsewhere in Iraq, despite what looks to be a rise in sectarian attacks directed against Shi'ites. But the political and security dynamics dampening a Mahdi Army comeback today could change drastically in the coming months as U.S. forces fade from the streets of major cities across Iraq as part of a U.S.-Iraqi agreement calling for American troops to be off the streets of urban areas by June. U.S. military officials have warned that sectarian violence is likely to rise as the drawdown goes...