"Ethnic and religious groups"

Editor,

It is the Americans, not the Iraqis, who conceptualize Iraq as consisting of "ethnic and religious groups" that don't much like each other -- and the Americans reduce a rich diversity of such groups to the convenient triad of Kurds, Shias, and Sunnis. Yes, 600 years ago there was hostility, but go on the ground today and ask ordinary Iraqis how these groups feel about one another, and you will hear that "we are all brothers, we are Moslems."

Saddam was a Sunni, but his government was 100% secular, so Saddam did not represent domination of the Shias by the Sunnis.

You have to ask yourself who benefits from provoking warfare between "ethnic and religious groups", and the answer is the Americans. They can manufacture from this conflict the necessity for permanent military bases in Iraq, they can meddle in and dominate Iraqi's political process, American swindlers can make billions ripping off so-called reconstruction money, they can define Iraq's economy. The right thing for the Americans to do is to leave Iraq today, but "ethnic and religious groups" provides the pretense they need to stay.

Did the CIA blow up the Shias' golden dome? They and al Qaeda had the most to gain from doing it.