Start your day with intelligence. Get The OODA Daily Pulse.
In the mainly Shi’ite neighborhood of Shula in Baghdad, Sheikh Ahmad Dulaimi discards his white ammamah or turban, the symbol of Sunni Muslim clergy, when he walks in the teeming streets. “I don’t wear the ammamah when I go out because I’m afraid mosque Imams could be targeted by people who want to ignite a sectarian war,” Dulaimi says. Iraq’s 26 million people are overwhelmingly Muslim but there have always been tensions between the Shi’ite and Sunni sects of the faith. Alone among Arab countries, Iraq has a majority of Shi’ites, about 60 percent of the population. Full Story