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Originally Posted by dennisw
It is hard for me to imagine ever bringing these factions under some sense of control .
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Perhaps you are reading too much into my statement. By bringing these factions under "some" sense of control and by trying to get you all to think more about insurgencies without being too blatant, I was implying that you need to remove the reason for their existence. Tribes, sects, and factions of Islam will always exist and will always compete for their perceived roles in their culture. Armed militias exist for many reasons, one of which is to provide the protection for their followers that cannot be provided by the folks that are supposed to provide it, ie the government in power. Now I am not so naive to think that the Sunnis and Shias will ever join hands and sing Kumbaya will they roast a goat, but until the government can provide security, among other things governments are supposed to do, militias will not only exist but they will have the popular support of those that feel that the government is not looking out for them and they need to look out for themselves. Take away the popular support for the militias and you erode the power of folks that control the militias.