![Iraqi players]()
A venn I made for Jack that shows some of the players in Iraq and their affiliations, while capturing some of their motivations. It's a snapshot in time.
Some of the things I'm not sure are represented accurately in the venn are: the proportion of Sunnis that would want an Islamically oriented regieme in place, which I think is significant, but there's no overlap represented - the designation of the Islamic factions is a secondary venn and the circles don't do any of them justice; the fluidity or tragectories of the players; the US military vs. the US people as players, if they matter at all (considering that this is essentially a US/analyst view); the actual affiliation of the Kurds, of whom I have rather little understanding. Some fairly obvious caveats are that the labels "pro-islamist," "pro-nationalist," and "pro-American" have different interpretations depending on the player that's using them.
I'm still looking at it and it'll definitely evolve, but I welcome any feedback, including any conclusions one might draw from a diagram like this. I've got opinions and I'll post those and my motivations soon.
(post title reference)