"The Iraqi Shia Arabs don’t like the Sunni Arabs but they like the non-Arab Iranian Shia even less."

 

This is a key bit of cultural information that our leaders in Iraq (and in Washington) refused to acknowledge, much less leverage.  This boogeyman could have been used under the Arabic proverb "The enemy of my enemy, is my friend" to, if not unite, at least provide a cohesive push for the Iraqi people.  The animus I experienced while in Iraq (in Sunni and Shia areas) to the Persians (I had first come to understand this animus during Desert Storm-then working with Saudis, Omanis, Kuwaitis, Egyptians and Syrians) was endemic throughout the peoples regardless of religious or (non-Persian) racial background.