Abstract: The article reports on the United States government allegedly promoting a Shiite government in Iraq while backing Sunni authority elsewhere. Critics suggest that the U.S. government ally itself with one sect of Islam in order to help end the conflict in Iraq. Some consider radical Shiite sects in Iran and Hezbollah to be a threat. Others contend that the fundamental anti-intellectualism of Sunni Islam is anti-American. The history of the Sunni-Shiite civil war is included.