David>...Since the Sunnis have failed to join up with the new government, following traditional Muslim policy, they must be exterminated. Those are the rules over there.

Factionalism and hostility between Muslim sects is nothing new and I've even seen it here in my home state of Oregon.

David>If the Iraqi government wants the continued support of the USA, including both money and firepower on demand, it must compromise. And it needs that support.

Shi'a Iraq could ask Shi'a Iran for military assistance. But that is unthinkable.

David>The oil was nationalized decades ago. There are no private oil wells in Iraq. The entire oil industry belongs to the nation and has for a very long time.

Western oil men can dream, though. Anyway, Robert Tracinski, writing for The Intellectual Activist, makes some interesting points concerning how the West's need for oil has made conflict with Islam inevitable.