Gates: Bombs Tie Iran to Iraq Extremists

[ikestoys]

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pure numbers game... CIA Factbook says Sunnis are outnumbered by 2 to 1. I severely doubt that Sunnis attack twice as much as Shiites, especially when problem areas are in places like Sadr City are Shiite.

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Are you talking about the makeup of the insurgency or of Iraq as a whole? (If you have numbers for the insurgency, could you give a link?) If you're talking about Iraq as a whole, what makes you assume that the Sunni/Shiite composition of the insurgency (and, presumably, attacks and deadly attacks on Americans in Iraq) would mirror the Sunni/Shiite composition of Iraq overall?

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Iraq as a whole, you're not going to get a membership roll from a clandestine group.

Short version, why wouldn't it?

Long version... both groups have interests in fighting the U.S. Sunnis are pissed that the U.S. took over, Shiites want the U.S. out in order to take full control of the country.

The assumption isn't that the makeup of the insurgency isn't EXACTLY the same as Iraq, but that it can't overcome a 2 to 1 ratio. The standard of proof really lies on the opposite argument to prove. I can come up with several reasons why the number of Shiite attacks are more prevalent today, including Iran's involvement and Shiite militias like Sadr's, what evidence is there to conclude that Sunnis attack Americans twice as much per person than Shiites?