by Gregory Hietala

Created on: May 06, 2008

Iraq will never have the ability to overcome its violent state and become a unified country. Although the United States will continue to attempt to form a permanent government, it simply cannot be done due to the current state of Iraq. The country was never actually a unified country unless it had some form of authoritarian rule. There are three main reasons that will ultimately prevent Iraq from unifying. There are too many religious differences, deepened hatreds, and a corrupt form of government.

First of all, within Iraq there are three different prevailing forms of religion, and although they are all forms of Islam, there is still a lot of infighting. The Kurds control most of the northern region of Iraq and have gone mainly uncontested, at least until Turkey started attacking them. Also to the south, the Shiites and the Suunis have been fighting over key cities in what has become the "Iraqi Triangle of Death". These key cities, which include Baghdad, Falluja, and Iskandariya, have been the epicenter of American and Iraqi casualties. Even with increased security from both American and Iraqi forces, terrorists still manage to create chaos in an isolated manner. Even though this is not the full chaotic goal of the terrorists, it still has a strong influence on the public of Iraq, and shows them that this war may in fact be a war of attrition. Nonetheless, these clashes of religion have created political gaps in between each religion, and now all the religions are looking for ways to attack each other. The Christen Science Monitor of November 28th, 2006, reports a fear of Sectarian Civil War, if current violence escalates. If anymore evidence is truly necessary, then it is important to look towards the religious militias that have now come into conflict with the American and Iraqi forces. Al'Sadr's Militia has recently engaged the Iraqi military forces in a fierce battle for Basra. Even though the Iraqi forces eventually defeated Al'Sadr, this is only one example of many. In the long run, Iraq cannot be unified if these religious conflicts continue, since they only deepen differences between large groups in Iraq.
In addition to my previous point, Iraq will not unify because of deepened hatreds between the many different groups of Iraq. The fighting that has ensued after the American invasion, has driven deep hatreds and conflicts between militias, and even religions. Since Saddam has favored the Shiites in Iraq for his entire period of power, many Suunis had

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