Sunnis face an even bleaker future in Iraq if the militants' reign of terror is finally defeated

[Jefferson23]

Full title: Inside the 'Islamic State' - part four: Patrick Cockburn hears how moderate Sunnis - many fighting against jihadists - have no confidence in the 'corrupt' Shia government in Baghdad


Mahmoud Omar, a young Sunni photographer, is angered though not entirely surprised by the way in which the Baghdad government continues to mistreat his fellow Sunnis. Political leaders inside and outside Iraq all agree that the best, and possibly the only, way to defeat Isis is to turn at least part of the Sunni Arab community against it.

The idea is to repeat the US success in 2006-07 in supporting the Sunni “Awakening Movement” which weakened, though it never destroyed, al-Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor of Isis. Now as then, many Sunnis hate the extremists for their merciless violence and enforcement of outlandish and arbitrary rules on personal behaviour that have no connection to even the strictest interpretation of sharia.

The fact that so many Sunnis are alienated from or terrified by Isis should present an opportunity for Baghdad, since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s government is meant to be more inclusive than that of his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki. Increasingly aggressive sectarian policies pursued by Mr Maliki during his eight years in power are now blamed for turning peaceful protests by Sunnis into armed resistance and pushing the Sunni community into the arms of Isis. This is an over-simplified version of recent history, but with the new government lauded internationally for its non-sectarian stance, the Sunni hoped they would face less day-to-day repression. “Isis has shocked many Sunni by its actions,” says Mahmoud. “But instead of the government treating us better to win us over, they are treating us even worse.”

As an example of this he cites the behaviour of police in Ramadi, the capital of the vast and overwhelmingly Sunni province of Anbar. His family comes from the city, which used to have a population of 600,000. Now 80 per cent have fled the fighting as Isis and government forces battle for control. Isis launched seven almost simultaneous suicide bomb attacks last week and was already holding 80 per cent of Ramadi.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/life-under-isis-sunnis-face-an-even-bleaker-future-in-iraq-if-the-militants-reign-of-terror-is-finally-defeated-10117918.html

[Igel]

1. It ain't what you don't know what hurts you,

it's what you know that ain't so.

That's part of the problem. They know that under Saddam Sunnis had most of the power and perks, and "know" that it wasn't corrupt. They "know" that the country was mostly educated. They also "know" that the war against Iran was fought mostly by Sunnis, and they "know" that Sunni Arabs make up a clear majority of the country.

They also "know" about a lot of unfair repression under the Shi'ite government. In some cases what they know is true. In a lot of cases, it's magnified, made up, or misrepresented. It's hard to tell what's true from what's false in the best of circumstances in that kind of situation and accept it; it's impossible when the truth and falsehoods are similar, mixed, and equally substantiated and unsubstantiated. Then you believe what you want, and your confirmation bias determines what you "know."