by Erik Leaver and Raed Jarrar As each day is greeted with news
of Iraq's daily death toll, the media debates whether Iraq is
embroiled in an all-out civil war. While conventional wisdom
holds that the country is being cleaved apart by religious
differences, this conflict actually stemmed from the U.S.
government's political miscalculations. Foreign politicians have
a history of misguided analysis about the potential for civil
war in Iraq. In 1920, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George
warned of civil war if the British army withdrew from Iraq. The
exact same thing is heard today in the United States.
Ironically, the same Iraqis George wanted to protect from each
other instead united in a revolution against the British
occupation forces. With rising opposition within the Shi'ite
ranks against the occupation, the United States could see a
similar revolt in the coming months. Iraqi Shia and Sunnis have
lived in harmony for centuries. Historically, the two sects
lived in the same areas, intermarried, worked