US manipulated Iraqi divisions for its own sake

Aljazeera.Net - Iraqi civil war threatens region: "Why do you say the US manipulated Iraqi divisions for its own sake?

When the US entered Iraq, it took advantage of the sectarian divisions in the country. These divisions had already been aggravated by the rule of Saddam Hussein, but now it was being aggravated again by the US.

The US exploited these divisions by making promises to the Shia community to have a larger share of the pie - of the oil shares.

This is a policy to produce a more divided country.

The US administration hoped that by averting the rise of national unity among Iraqis, they could play one faction against another.

This policy has worked. For example, the Kurds, for all practical purposes, can be considered independent.

However, whenever we see any Shia-Sunni alliance, the US immediately considers this a threat.

So, they sometimes appease the Shia. And other times they appease the Sunnis, but never both together.

Muqtada al-Sadr, though, is a danger to the US because he appeals for national Iraqi unity across the Sunni-Shia divide."