between sunni and shia muslims that analysts warn could drag the country to civil war president nuri al maliki said on saturday that violence in neighboring syria is hearing religious tension political analyst dan glazebrook says the wave of violence comes as a direct result of the occupation of iraq. i think what we need to understand what we're seeing here in iraq is that we're seeing the fruits of this policy that was adopted about six years ago by the u.s. and saudi arabia in particular if you look at the way that the occupying powers are behaved ever since two thousand and three since the start of the iraqi occupation they've done everything it seems possible to try for many sectarianism the constitution introduced was completely based on confessional identity not on national citizenship sunni militias were to be equipped financed and armed by saudi arabia and qatar in order to wage basically sectarian war against shia muslims and we know that these two powers say that saudi arabia and qatar and the forefront of representing imperial u.s. and british interests in the region so nothing get

basically been protesting against the government based say that the policies of prime minister nuri al maliki this is the shiite led government has resulted in their oppression this is what they say and news of the attacks there and how we have spread very quickly and that's what's behind this latest spate of violence we saw attacks in mosul in other areas north of baghdad in the anbar province and people feel that this was perhaps retribution perhaps basically just the straw that broke the camel's back with essentially largely peaceful demonstrations turning into now violent escalations and expressions of outrage in order for things to essentially deescalate there has to be changes in policies and we were in fallujah talking to the protesters they feel that the way the very structure of the government this is a sectarian government this is part of the constitution that has been written in large part with the help of the u.s. that divides iraq i mean it divides iraq constitutionally and these protesters say that unless there's a change in policies they're not going to stop coming out they're

between sunni and shia muslims that analysts warn it could drag iraq into civil war president nuri al maliki said on saturday that violence in neighboring syria is fueling religious tensions i think you see kavanaugh taking a look at how the facts on the country. iraq is a country that is divided into three major areas you have for example over here this is the largely sunni provinces over here is the semi autonomous kurdish region below which are certain disputed areas and this is the largely shia area of iraq now the incidents the latest wave of violence really began new york your kook this is close to the town of who we are where demonstrators have been camped out for several months now on tuesday things came to a bloody boiling point when the government forces had raided the area the government says that the protesters had opened fire the demonstrators meanwhile say that these security officials are the ones who opened fire first and news of the attacks there in the region had spread very quickly and that's what's behind this latest spate of violence we saw attacks in mosul in other area

basically been protesting against the government they say that the policies of prime minister nuri al maliki this is the shiite led government has resulted in their oppression this is what they say and news of the attacks there in the region had spread very quickly and that's what's behind this latest spate of violence was attacks and those will in other areas north of baghdad in the anbar province and people feel that this was perhaps retribution perhaps basically just the straw that broke the camel's back with essentially largely peaceful demonstrations turning into now violent escalations and expressions of outrage in order for things to essentially deescalate there has to be changes in policy as we were in fallujah talking to the protesters they feel that the way the very structure of the government this is a sectarian government this is part of the constitution that has been written in large part with the help of the u.s. that divides iraq i mean it divides iraq constitutionally and these protesters say that unless there's a change in policies they're not going to stop coming out they'r

in part aggravated by the actions of the predominantly shia government led by prime minister nuri al malikis primarily sunni areas. and right now, especially when we look at what's happening over recent times, many people are warning that iraq really is at a crossroads at this stage, wolf. >> for this, the united states went to war? i guess a lot of people are wondering, the u.s. lost thousands of troops, many came home injured, spending $1 trillion, something like that, and the situation there is as chaotic and brutal as ever, is that what i'm hearing? >> pretty much in a nutshell, yes. iraq most certainly has not by any stretch of the imagination turned into a thriving democracy. and of course, the situation here is only being further aggravated by what is happening in neighboring syria. not only does iraq have its own set of challenges to deal with when it comes to appeasing the sectian tech shons that exist, what's happening here and in syria is a part of the greater power struggle between the shia and shia communities. >> and how long the u.s. winds up staying in afghanistan, the same