AMMAN, Jordan - Any all-out civil war in Iraq could shake the political foundations of places beyond that stricken land, sending streams of refugees across Iraqi borders, tempting neighbors to intervene, and renewing the half-buried old conflict of Sunni and Shiite in the Muslim world, Middle East analysts say.
"If it's a war between Sunni and Shiite, this war might be extended from Lebanon to Afghanistan," says Diaa Rashwan, an Egyptian expert on Islamic militancy.
In a series of Associated Press interviews, other regional specialists didn't foresee such falling dominoes — open war between Islam's two branches spreading elsewhere from Iraq. But they believe regional tensions have already sharpened because of the rise of Iraqi Shiites to power under U.S. military occupation.
This "really changes the power structure in the Middle East, not only in Iraq, but in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia," said longtime U.S. Mideast scholar William R. Polk, referring to two other Arab lands with fragile religious divides.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051026/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_shock_wavesIf the 20th century truly began on July 28, 1914, the start of World War I, then I believe March 20, 2003, the start of the invasion of Iraq, is the beginning of the 21st century. It will change the course of history for the remainder of this century.