Word: sunni
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...unlikely that even if Zarqawi dies as a result of those reported wounds, the insurgency's trend lines will be reversed. The reason: foreign jihadists are believed to constitute a small, if particularly deadly, fraction of the overall insurgency, which draws most of its support from disaffected Sunni Arabs in Iraq and its leadership from the ranks of the old military and intelligence apparatus...
Parsons blames al-Jazeera's negative image in the West on critics who do not even understand Arabic. "Somebody accused us of pushing a Sunni Wahhabi agenda on the world. I don't even know what a Sunni Wahhabi agenda is," he says. "Warts and all, the [staff members] have done a fantastic job. Nobody's perfect, but they have blazed a trail." At the same time, Parsons argues that Western news organizations' coverage is slanted. In covering the Iraq war, he contends, "there was a dereliction of duty. Not enough organizations showed the other side. There was an attempt...
...Sunni boycott of the polls underscores the fact that those Sunnis currently sitting in parliament are not considered representative by the community, and more influential clerical and political groups have thus far kept their distance from the new order. That has created a situation where the insurgents have the loudest Sunni voice in the current political landscape. Although the spectacular terror strikes of the Zarqawi-led al-Qaeda faction may get the most headlines, the bulk of the insurgency is believed to be composed of Sunni fighters motivated by a combination of nationalist and Islamist sentiments...
...Even more contentious than the number of cabinet positions being offered to Sunnis has been the plan by Jaafari's alliance to oust former Baathists from the security services and deny anyone with a Baathist past a cabinet position. Debaathification has been vigorously opposed by Sunni representatives in negotiations with Jaafari, and the U.S. has also urged the new prime minister to abandon plans for a purge of Baathists from the security services, believing that this could fatally weaken the ability of the Iraqi security forces to fight the insurgency. Jaafari is reportedly backing away from a wholesale purge, recognizing...
...time soon. They're certainly enjoying a lot more successes against the insurgents than before, but the insurgency has also grown in scale and capability. But for all its proven ability to disrupt and sabotage the new order in Iraq, an insurgency based on the sectarian militancy of the Sunni minority can't easily succeed in restoring Sunni-Baathist authority over the newly empowered Shiites and Kurds, whose own militias render such an outcome unlikely even if U.S. troops were to withdraw. So, even if a civil war is already under way, it's worth remembering that civil wars...