During the insurrection the Sunni Muslims of Iraq began to attack the Shite Muslims due to the lobsided U.S. support for the Shite peoples in the country, and the fact that al Qaeda in Iraq wanted to start a civil war in the unstable nation. What followed was chaos. This was al Qaeda's worst decision as far as public relations for the whole war, but it was also the most frightening part for the Coalition. The fact that Iraq has avoided a full scale civil war for all this time is a testament to the strengh of the new government, its Coalition support, and most of all the strength of the Iraqi people. This is one effect of the war that continues to this date but has grown less violent. How the situation will change after the Coalition leaves though, no one knows for sure. On the map above, the Sunnis are reperesented by the green, the neutral Kurds by orange, and the Sunnis in tan. Below is a link to a blog on Iraq's sectarian violence.
Fighting Terrorism in Iraq Part Two: The Insurgency
Fighting Terrorism in Iraq Part Two: The Insurgency
