9781422277171

The new Iraqi government put Hussein on trial. A court found him guilty and hanged him. No one ever found any weapons of mass destruction. Despite Saddam Hussein’s death and the occupation of Iraq by US forces, the Iraq War destabilized an already unstable region. The Birth of ISIS At the time, US Vice President Richard Cheney boasted that the Iraqi people would welcome the Americans as “liberators,” or saviors. Nothing of the sort happened. Instead, after major combat operations were supposedly over, and after President Bush proclaimed, “mission accomplished,” the United States and its allies hunkered down in what would become a deadly occupation. Shiite vs. Sunni Shia and Sunnis are two different groups of Muslims that split off from one another centuries ago when the Prophet Muhammad died in 632. At that time, there was great controversy over who would be Muhammad’s successor. The Shiites believed that the Prophet’s heir should come from Muhammad’s family. The Sunnis believed the new Muslim leader should be the person who was the best leader. Tensions between both sides often erupted in conflict over the decades. The Shiites tended to be the minority and lived in the poorest sections of Muslim society in countries governed by Sunnis. The Shiites viewed themselves as being oppressed and discriminated against. Sunni extremists consider the Shia heretics . The division within Islam continues to play a huge part in Mideast politics today.

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