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Sunnis Have Lost the Battle for Baghdad

[Wall Street Journal] Fouad Ajami - The Sunnis have lost the battle for Baghdad. The great flight from Baghdad to Jordan, to Syria, to other Arab destinations, has been the flight of Baghdad's Sunni middle-class who had the means of escape, and the savings. Whole mixed districts in the city - Rasafa, Karkh - have been emptied of their Sunni populations. The Sunni Arabs waged a war against the Shia they were destined to lose. A member of the (Sunni) Association of Muslim Scholars in Baghdad likened the dilemma of his community to that of the Palestinian Arabs since 1948. "They waited for deliverance that never came," he said. "Like them, we placed our hopes in Arab leaders who have their own concerns. We fell for those Arab satellite channels, we believed that Arab brigades would turn up in Anbar and Baghdad. We made room for al-Qaeda, only to have them turn on us in Anbar." Now among the Sunnis there is a widespread sentiment of disinheritance and loss.
2007-04-13 01:00:00
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