Islamic State: Iraqi leaders created the problem and can end it, say Sunnis

(The Christian Science Monitor) An Iraqi truck driver knows just how Sunni militants are created in Iraq—he nearly became one.

Mohamed Abu Abed’s account of suffering at the hands of Iraq’s Shi‘ite-dominated security forces and government over the years echoes repeatedly among Iraq’s minority Sunnis, who once held the reins of power in Iraq under Saddam Hussein but have been pushed aside and often targeted since the 2003 American invasion.

With the word “injustice” often on their lips—and the cases of thousands of Sunnis detained without charge on their minds—Iraq’s aggrieved Sunnis began a popular uprising in December 2012. They called the Baghdad government “enemy,” and in June this year helped Islamic State militants advancing from Syria seize control of swathes of their own country.