For some, sectarianism in Iraq appeared like a summer storm, which quickly passed once the “surge” of US troops became American strategy in 2007. But even the colossal mistakes of “de-Baathification” (the dismissal of all Iraqi officials who had been members of Saddam’s Baath Party) and the decommissioning of the Iraqi army – measures so foolish that nobody now admits to ordering them – cannot fully explain Iraq’s continuing political crisis.
有人认为，伊拉克的宗派主义就像是夏季风暴，随着美军“涌入”在2007年成为美国的战略，这场风暴很快就会过去。但即使是“去社会复兴党化”（将曾是萨达姆的社会复兴党党员的伊拉克官员解职）和强迫取消伊拉克军队的巨大错误——没有人愿意承认下达了这些愚蠢的命令——也无法解释伊拉克的后续政治危机。