NYT: Sectarian Hatred Pulls Apart Iraq's Mixed Towns

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/20/international/middleeast/20sectarian.html?ei=5089&en=9d922f7ce7a54d08&ex=1290142800&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

Sectarian Hatred Pulls Apart Iraq's Mixed Towns

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 19 - Abu Noor's town had become so hostile to Shiites that his wife had not left the house in a month, his family could no longer go to the medical clinic and mortar shells had been lobbed at the houses of two of his religious leaders.

"I couldn't open the door and stand in my yard," he said.

So when Abu Noor, a Shiite from Tarmiya, a heavily Sunni Arab town north of here, ran into an old friend, a Sunni who faced his own problems in a Shiite district in Baghdad, the two decided to switch houses. They even shared a moving van.

Two and a half years after the American invasion, deep divides that have long split Iraqi society have violently burst into full view. As the hatred between Sunni Arabs and Shiites hardens and the relentless toll of bombings and assassinations grows, families are leaving their mixed towns and cities for safer areas where they will not automatically be targets. In doing so, they are creating increasingly polarized enclaves and redrawing the sectarian map of Iraq, especially in Baghdad and the belt of cities around it.

Heck of a job there, Bushco :-(

[Teaser]

1. Didn't we win this war already?

I choose not to believe bad Iraq news. Because that's all you have to do: choose not to believe it. Belief: it's the next best thing to facts.

[wookie294]

2. This was all predicted by the Michael Moore wing of the Dem Party

Next time, America, listen to a liberal.

[sabra]

3. Sad thing is, Bushco still thinks it's an insult to call some one that...

[Erika]

4. We need to pull out and let them fight their own civil war.

The Iraqis are not autonomous nor will they ever be. This should not be our problem. Our troops should not be dying for another's country civil sectarian war.

[Dancing_Dave]

5. As soon as we're out, you'll be surprised how fast

The civil war ends.

[Erika]

6. Your thoughts? n/t

[ThePopulist]

8. Actually the real problem is that there is no "Iraq"

"Iraq" is an artificial term created by the British to name their colonial slaves and subjects. The people in Iraq are as follows:

Arabs
1.Sunni Arabs
2.Sh'ia Arabs

Kurds

Turkomen

Assyrians(mostly Christian)

small number of Persians and Jews


These are the people of Iraq and most hate each other at the worst or at the best distrust eachother a lot.

[Itchinjim]

7. Yugoslavia reduex.

Welcome to your nightmare Iraq.

[grytpype]

9. Bush created the conditions for this to happen.