Iraq Internal Fights Turn More Sectarian

In Iraq, the line between political divisions and religious ones is difficult to discern. However, this past week end according to an Associated Press report, internal conflicts seemed to take on a more explicitly sectarian tone. Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the main Sunni Muslim bloc in the next parliament, said he opposed giving Shiite Muslims the key top posts in the Interior and Defense ministries. "Mosques and houses are empty because clerics and ordinary men are being chased as if there was a sectarian cleansing in Baghdad," al-Dulaimi said. However, the head of the Shiite militia, the Badr Brigade, said that Shiite religious parties would "never surrender" the key interior and defense ministries. Also over the week end, car bombs exploded in synchronized attacks outside at least four churches (Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican) in Baghdad and Kirkuk.