Indications that hardliners within the Bush administration are (again) pushing for war with Iran casts new light on the recent alliance of convenience between the U.S. military and Sunni insurgents in Iraq. We’ve been highlighting for a while the administration’s penchant for implying that the deterioration of Iraqi politics isn’t as important as the U.S.-Sunni alliance against al-Qaeda. And there’s little doubt that the alliance is important, both for fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq and for the prospect of an Iran war spilling over into Iraq. It’s not inconceivable that our new Sunni allies of convenience would read the push for war with Iran as a green light to go after the Iraqi Shiites they view as Iran’s proxies, politically or militarily.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=180000