Word: shi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Although he didn't suggest that Schwarzkopf should march on Baghdad--and has not done so since--he was disappointed that the war did not continue long enough to ensure Saddam's downfall. He was horrified when the U.S. stood by as Saddam's helicopter gunships mowed down the Shi'ites in southern Iraq whom the U.S. had encouraged to rise in rebellion. To Wolfowitz, Saddam's survival represented an opportunity missed. In a 1998 congressional hearing, he said, "Some might say--and I think I would sympathize with this view--that perhaps if we had delayed the cease-fire...
...central Iraqi region of Al Qadisiyah, the mostly Shi'ite population isn't likely to buy this approach so easily. In the second week of the campaign, advancing coalition troops faced up to one of the fundamental miscalculations of the early days of the war: blasting conventional Iraqi forces hasn't been enough. They also have to go into towns and take out Baath Party officials and Fedayeen fighters loyal to Saddam. Only then can one even begin to talk about prospects of local people-circumspect after the U.S. encouraged previous uprisings that were later crushed-partying in the streets...
...capital than in defending Iraq's borders. The same ethnic tensions that make Iraq tough to govern should make it easier to push Saddam and his defenders into Baghdad. The Kurds have virtual autonomy in northern Iraq. In the south, U.S. troops face an uncertain reception. While Shi'ite Muslims disdain Saddam's Sunni-led government, they are also wary of a coalition that allowed Saddam to crush a 1991 Shi'ite uprising at the end of the Gulf War. The western reaches of Iraq are mostly empty desert...
...miles to the north, across two trenches and an electric fence, lies the enemy. U.S. commanders on the ground are convinced that the Iraqi soldiers are a force of truly desperate men--a thin line of conscripts, many of them drawn from Shi'ite and Kurdish communities that despise Saddam. Kuwaiti guards report that when Iraqi soldiers swarmed across the border 12 1/2 years ago and began a seven-month looting spree, the first stop for the occasionally barefoot Iraqis was not the luxury-car dealers but the food stores. And back then they were better looked after. Last year...
...region became a buffer zone for conflict between the Shi'ite Safavid Empire and the Ottoman Turks. Fearful that Shi'ite Islam would spread to Asia Minor, the Turks captured Baghdad and, with the exception of a Safavid period in the 17th century, stayed there until World...