Iraq: Out of the desert into Mosul (closed)

[ganulv]

What is far more interesting is that both the Sunni and Shia will work together when they have a common perceived enemy--we saw this at varying times even late in Iraq in the 2008-2010 period with the EFP IEDs when AQI/IAI crossed over and purchased EFP parts and then sold the Shia large amounts of HME.

In the world of anthropology we call this segmentary opposition. “Me against my brother, both of us against our father, all of us against you.”

The exemplar description is invariably Evans-Pritchard’s description of how Nuer lineages fight one another, come together as a clan to fight other clans, and how all Nuer clans come together to fight the Dinka. It has been suggested, though, that many of forms of social organization he described amongst the Nuer are modeled upon the social life of the Bedouins in Libya with whom he served during WWII.