Saddam's Band of Sunni Brethren Rise in Iraq
Old habits are the last to die. It's an old statement of fact, whether it is a personal one or more global. Like the sisterhood of bad dreams, both Afghanistan and Iraq seem to invoke waste, generally. The Iraqi people have been free of Saddam for 10 years now, it was 2003, when U.S.troops liberated Baghdad. People rejoiced like the they did whenever U.S. troops liberated parts of Nazi Germany.
But the Arabs are not European. They are from different tribes.
Iraq is now entering the internal battle for power - the Sunni versus Shiite. To most westerners, there is not one ounce of difference between them except what they call themselves. However, in Iraq, it is real hatred. The Shiites have the governmental power for the most part and the Sunnis are sick of it, They want it and dissent is building as are the car bombings fueled by al-Qaeda groups who reside in the country who just want an Islamic state.
The call it the "Sunni Spring", and in the past six months, the Sunnis have been holding large protests from Mosul in the north to Baghdad all calling for the overthrow of Maliki's Shiite government that the US installed and which are more bent in appeasing Iran than those who saved it. The protests have gathered large numbers- hundreds of thousands. Some have been violent, 300 were killed in March overall. Iraq's bloodiest month in three years. The Shiites respond by killing key leaders of the Sunni movement.
The Sunnis have said that they are ready for a civil war to regain power lost. The Shiites state they will remain in power.
Like I said, for the U.S., a bad dream is coming true.