One more of the twenty civil wars being fought in Iraq

Obviously we need to stay in Iraq to prevent/help the sectarian vs. nationalist bloc from/to realizing we're stealing their oil/ unite in an United Iraqi democracy....

While the majority of Iraqis know that the current Sunni-Shiites tension did not exist before 2003, no one can deny that after five years of U.S. occupation, sectarian tension is now a reality. Sectarianism is another disaster that was brought to Iraq by the war and occupation of Iraq.

The U.S.-led invasion did not only destroy the Baath political regime, it also annihilated the entire public sector including education, health care, food rations, social security, and the armed forces. The Iraqi public sector was a great example of how millions of Iraqis: Arabs and Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites, Muslims and Christians, religious and secular, all worked together in running the country. The myth that the former Iraqi government was a "Sunni-led dictatorship" was created by the U.S. government. Even the Iraqi political regime was not "Sunni-led," let alone the rest of the public sector. A good way to debunk this fairy tale is through a close look at the famous deck of cards of the 55 most wanted Iraqi leaders. The cards had the pictures of Saddam, his two sons, and the rest of the political leadership which most Iraqis would recognize as the heads of the political regime. What is noteworthy is that 36 of the 55 were Shiites. In fact, the two vice presidents were a Christian and a Shiites Kurd.

Sometimes I feel like Iraqis and Americans are analyzing two different wars happening in two different countries. In one narrative, there is a civil war based on ancient sectarian hatred where a U.S. withdrawal will cause the sky to fall. In the other, there is a country struggling under occupation to get its independence back where the occupation is not welcomed and it is causing political, not sectarian, splits and violence.

According to the Iraqi mainstream narrative, the foreign occupation is the major reason and cause for violence and destruction. Foreign intervention is not only destroying Iraq's infrastructure, but it is also splitting Iraq's formerly integrated society. In addition, Iraqis are fighting among each other over fundamental questions about the future of their country, but the central conflict is not between Sunnis and Shiites, it is between Iraqi separatists and nationalists. Unlike other countries in the region such as Lebanon, the Iraqi sectarian tension is still reversible, because it just started five years ago. More importantly, it isn't main driver fueling the Iraqi-Iraqi conflict. This "hidden" conflict is between separatists and nationalists.

Civil war continues between the Sunni and the Shia

Goaded on by those who benefit from the two fighting each other:

BAGHDAD -- Militants blew up the two golden minarets of an important Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra today, evading tight security to again target a beloved site already damaged last year in a blast that unleashed fierce sectarian warfare.

Political and religious leaders scrambled to avert a repeat of the bloodshed, declaring indefinite curfews in at least four cities and issuing appeals for calm. But within hours, there were reports of revenge attacks against Sunni mosques and mortar strikes in Shiite-dominated parts of Baghdad.

Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, whose Al Mahdi militiamen were blamed for driving last year's surge in bloodshed, suspended their participation in parliament to protest the failure to protect religious sites.

There is not just one civil war in Iraq, there are at least four. (I've read there are up to twenty different fighting factions):

Defense Secretary Robert Gates:

Our strategic stagnation results from the fact that we are fighting four wars, not one. According to Gates: "One is Shi'a on Shi'a, principally in the south; the second is sectarian conflict, principally in Baghdad, but not solely; third is the insurgency; and fourth is al Qaida, and al Qaida is attacking, at times, all of those targets."

Yemen totters on the brink of sectarian war

Perhaps the first in the area to be sucked into the black hole of Iraq's civil war:

To isolate the rebels, explained Faqih, Yemeni authorities have blocked communications, including mobile-phone services, in the restive northern province. "But this has not necessarily helped the government as much as it is impossible for the rebels to overthrow the government and install their Islamic law," he said.

Observers are also concerned that hundreds of anti-Western insurgents could strike out at foreigners and Western interests in the country. This month the Interior Ministry temporarily tightened security around foreign embassies against possible terrorist attacks.

"Here in Yemen, tribe, religion and weapons are the most dangerous things in the hands of tribesmen against the government," said Abdul-Elah Haidar, a researcher on terrorism affairs at the Saba News Agency and regular columnist for London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi. "And when a group combines the three, it can easily become a substantial political force."

This escalation of violence has been a frightening setback for the Yemeni government, which had rigidly controlled the threats from al-Qaeda and was beginning to benefit from the cautious return of tourists and foreign investors.