Shia–Sunni relations
Shia–Sunni discord in Iraq starts with disagreement over the relative population of the two groups. According to most sources, including the CIA's "World Factbook", the majority of Iraqis are Shia Arab Muslims (60%-70%), and Sunni Arab Muslims represent between 32% and 37% of the population. However, Sunni are split ethnically among Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. Many Sunnis hotly dispute their minority status, including ex-Iraqi Ambassador Faruq Ziada, and many believe Shia majority is "a myth spread by America". One Sunni belief shared by Jordan's King Abdullah as well as his then Defense Minister Shaalan is that Shia numbers in Iraq were inflated by Iranian Shias crossing the border. Shia scholar Vali Nasr believes the election turnout in summer and December 2005 confirmed a strong Shia majority in Iraq.
Freedom of religion in Kuwait
There are 1.2 million citizens and 2.6 million non-citizens. In 2001, there were 1125,000 Sunni Kuwaiti citizens, 130,000 Shia Kuwaiti citizens and 920,000 Kuwaiti citizens in total thus Sunnis formed 84% and Shias formed 13.5% of the Kuwaiti citizen population. In 2002, the US Department of State reported that Shia Kuwaitis formed 10%-15% of Kuwait's citizen population, noting there were 525,000 Sunni Kuwaiti citizens and 855,000 Kuwaiti citizens in total (87% Sunnis, 13% Shias). In 2004, there were 600,000 Sunni Kuwaitis citizens, 300,000-350,000 Shia Kuwaiti citizens and 913,000 Kuwaiti citizens in total. There is also a small number of Ahmadi Muslims in Kuwait.