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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38296-2005Mar15.html
U.S. Looks to Ally with Shiites
(Washington Post) Robin Wright - A quarter-century after its first traumatic confrontation with the Shiite world, when the U.S. Embassy was seized in Iran, the U.S. is moving on several fronts to support, recognize, or hold out the prospect of engagement with Islam's increasingly powerful minority. The tentative U.S. moves to engage Shiite leaders are often not by choice or design, but rather a reflection of realities on the ground, including the fact that Shiites are the largest sects in countries where the U.S. has enormous stakes, U.S. officials and regional experts say. "We've come a long way since the 1980s in recognizing their growing role in the region. It's not a new principle but a practicality," a senior State Department official said.