September 13, 2004
The American RajPolitics
Firangpolicypundit Fareed Zakaria notes that the American strategy of playing off Shia vs. Sunni in Iraq resembles that of British India (via Amardeep Singh):
The intractable security problems in Sunni areas coupled with some success in Shia ones might lead the Iraqi government (and Washington) toward a “Shia strategy” in Iraq… In many of its colonies the British would often favor a single group as a quick means of gaining stability. Almost always the results were ruinousa trail of civil war and bloodshed.
manish on September 13, 2004 12:32 PM in Politics · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post






uh, not to nitpick, but it seems like Zakaria is cautioning against a potential issue rather than an actual "American strategy of playing off"?
Fair enough, the quote says "might lead" as well. But to some extent, we're already playing divide and conquer.
I've liked Zakaria's writing in the past, but since our 'So Called Liberal Media' hasn't been paying attention since the "Democracy Fairy" told them that the transition was done in July, I get my info from Juan Cole. I've been reading his blog for a while and he has a lot info on the all local politics.