Iraq Ten Years After the U.S. Invasion

While the political infighting and violence that have afflicted Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 are by no means over, the Shia-dominated government has been able to channel them for its own purposes. Baghdad has accomplished this largely by pitting Iraq's two smaller ethno-sectarian groups — the Sunnis and the Kurds — against each other.

This tactic was seen most recently when last week Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's party, with the help of some Sunni lawmakers, pushed a new budget through parliament that allocated far less money to the Kurds — who in previous years had been the Shiite government's main ally — than they had requested. The government's flexibility in making alliances of convenience demonstrates that it feels relatively secure in its position and is prepared to deal with rising Sunni unrest in Iraq and elsewhere in the region, especially neighboring Syria.