How Shiites won the battle against Islamic State: Kurds and Sunnis in Iraq

Abstract

This book sheds light on how the Shiite-dominated government's sectarian policy deepened the divide between Iraq's major communities (Shiites, Sunni Arabs and the Kurds) and led the country on the path of unending sectarian violence. It explains how government's failure to address the Sunni Arab grievances led to the emergence of the radical Islamic State, and convinced the Kurds that they could not coexist with Iraqi Arabs, who had been at each other's throats since 2003. It notes that the emergence of a Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad was a historical event that led Iran to achieve its longstanding dream of extending its influence from Tehran to Baghdad, to Damascus and Beirut. It places a special focus on how the Shiite politicians' slick diplomacy and media campaign diverted attention from its sectarian policy in 2014 by labeling the Sunni Arabs as terrorists and Kurdish leaders as corrupt separatists and troublemakers. This volume also uncovers how the Iraqi government was able to amass Western military and political support to defeat ISIS and to derail the Kurdish statehood movement