BAGHDAD, May 22 (UPI) -- Many Sunnis who not long ago wanted the United States out of Iraq now are wishing for additional American military patrols, a report says.
The dramatic escalation in sectarian violence since the Feb. 22 bombing of the revered Shiite Askariya Shrine in Samarra has turned the tide in the favor of U.S. troops, says the San Francisco Chronicle.
In the Iraqi police, who are mostly Shiite, the Sunnis are said to have an enemy to hate more than the U.S. military. Sunnis say militias associated Shiites reportedly have infiltrated the police force and are using the guise to kidnap, torture and kill Sunni civilians, the report said.
"Psychologically, something is broken," said Joost Hiltermann, an expert on Iraq at the International Crisis Group in Amman, Jordan.
"Calls by the Sunnis for the Americans to stay and protect them from the Shiites, and calls by the Shiites for the Americans to leave, is a complete reversal."
