Sunnis Vs. Shiites

[someguy]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

Only a very very small fraction of the billions of people on earth are engaged in any kind of holy war where they kill others. Most are engaged in the peaceful winning of hearts and minds. That is a plain fact. Religion is sometimes used as a tool by corrupt individuals to convince others to engage in war. But that is a symptom of human frailty and corruption, not a symptom of religion. If they did not have religion as their cause they would invent some other.

Bill

The point I make is that we do not choose some other reason because it doesn't receive the backing that the religious ones receive. Religion by it's very existence is a tool that can be corrupted. The fact that it is used to convince others to engage in war is the entire point. Others, the silent peaceable people you are referring to, are coereced into war by the religious reasons used to dehumanize the opposing populations. The simple fact of the matter is that the suppossedly peaceable religious people back the war, so therefore they aren't very peaceable.
Some Guy

[Freddy]

In Iraq the Sunnis, the minority, were in power during Saddam's long reign. They have much Shiite blood on their hands. Added to this the long standing hatred between the two Muslim groups, that others have pointed out, you have the makings for a major bloodbath. When the US finally leaves Iraq the civil war that is already brewing will explode with the majority Shiites taking revenge for the decades of Sunni attrocities committed against them. Iran will be supporting their brother Shiites in this civil war and then the possible unification of the two Shiite states may come about. Thank Mr. Bush for his part in bringing this about! If he had stayed the course on al-queda and bin-laden we would have many less dead Americans and much less negative feeling toward the US around the world. Iraq was a grave mistake. We could have taken Saddam out with a cruise missile.

[Racoon]

Here is a decent video from MSNBC ..
It helps explain the precariousness of the War in Iraq..
I was a little confused why the Sunni's and Shiites were such bitter rivals.. then throw American forces in the mix.
This war is not going good..


Fighting for Iraq: A regional powerplay - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com