Finally, taking the fight directly to Iraq’s most powerful Shi’a militia and Iranians inside Iraq will align the US much more closely with its traditional Sunni Arab allies – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf states. Arab governments have been especially angry over the chaos in Iraq, fearing that the US will abandon the Sunni minority to the not-so-tender mercies of revenge-minded Shi’a and expressing growing anxiety that the war has empowered Iran to extend Shi’a influence throughout the Middle East.