Shiites Force Sunnis From Baghdad

Internally displaced ranks surge as majority seeks ‘Manifest Destiny’
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 4, 2007 3:09 PM CDT
Shiites Force Sunnis From Baghdad
An Iraqi boy holds a gun's barrel during a protest of displaced Sunnis in Baghdad's al-Adil neighborhood in this Dec. 10, 2006 file photo. Some 150 Sunni families fled to Sunni dominated al-Adil from the Hurriyah neighborhood where fighting occurred. Until late 2005, Hurriyah was a relatively safe,...   (Associated Press)

Shiites have been clearing Baghdad of Sunnis at an accelerating rate, and those who remain live under siege. Curbing sectarian cleansing was a key goal of the US troop surge, but the forced migration has only intensified throughout the country, Newsweek reports: The ranks of internally displaced persons have doubled to 1.1 million this year.

With Iraqi police in hand, Shiites now dominate once-mixed Baghdad, having essentially won the civil war. Many blame the surge, which zeroed in first on Sunni insurgents in an arrangement with Shiites. Moqtada al-Sadr proclaims he’s taken the capital for the Shiites, and US forces have adopted a caretaker role toward Baghdad’s remaining minority as Sunnis cower behind concrete barricades. (More Iraq Civil War stories.)

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