Two Parts of Iraq, two Parts of the Middle East…………..
“A visit to the city of Fallujah, an hour’s drive west of Baghdad, confirms the intensity of Sunni provincial hostility to Iraq’s new Shia-led establishment. A clutch of city councillors, albeit chosen in 2005 under American tutelage, insists that “life was much better” under Saddam Hussein, a refrain often heard among Sunnis across Iraq. The people of Fallujah, a fiercely Sunni town, will “never forgive the Americans”, say the councillors, for the ferocity of their two assaults on the city in 2004, after jihadists had taken it over. The city’s supply of electricity, they say, is still less than three hours a day. For such misfortunes they blame the Shias who now run Iraq from Baghdad, rubbishing them as Iranian stooges as well as crooks. Iraqi Shias still tend to see Saddam’s old Baathists around every corner, deviously preparing for a comeback, especially as former senior soldiers, who are Sunni, have been returning to the upper ranks of the army to provide some professional experience…… Many Shias are irked by Mr Allawi’s frequent visits, since the election, to the capitals of Arab countries, all of them governed by Sunnis, to rally support for his prime ministerial bid. Iraq’s Shias tend to harbour a special mistrust for the Saudis. “They are fanatics who don’t allow Shia mosques to be built on their own soil,” says a leading Iraqi banker. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states are often accused of providing cash for the insurgents……”
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