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Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPPrint/LAC/20040304/COIRAQ04/TPComment/
Al-Qaeda's Deadly Gamble
(Toronto Globe and Mail) Jonathan Schanzer - While Tuesday's attacks against Shia targets in Baghdad and Karbala during Ashura, the holiest day in the Shia calendar, may have further soured Iraq's Shia population toward the Sunnis (playing upon a long-standing grudge), it is doubtful that even a significant minority of Shiites believes that violence against them stems from a monolithic Sunni offensive. Most Shia leaders, both religious and secular, understand that these attacks are largely perpetrated by outsiders wishing to foment unrest in a country that a Shia figure will likely soon lead.