Intelligence and military analysts debate how much of the violence is due to the presence of foreigners, though it is widely conceded that most of the attacks can be attributed to what American officials call “former regime elements,” with the Iraqi Sunni community the main pillar of the resistance. Having dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and despite numbering less than a quarter of the overall population, Sunnis, it is said, are fighting to prevent their communal interests from being overwhelmed by the majority Shi’ites and the Kurds, a distinct ethnic group concentrated in the north.