Great Sign in Iraq

This Juan Cole post makes me feel a lot better about Iraq's future than I have for some time. One of the possible scenarios, and one I was coming to fear, was a sectarian civil war. According to Cole, however, Sunnis responded with an outpouring of support for the Shi'ites after yesterday's bombing, which can only be considered a good sign. Yesterday on NPR Cole talked about the strength of Iraqi nationalism as opposed to sectarianism, and when famous historian of Iraq Peter Sluglett was on campus last October, he talked about how many Iraqis felt more tied to social or professional organizations than religious ones, and actually feared that the coalition would force people into confessional categories. Nothing would please me more than to see ineffective terrorist violence serve to unite people, thus staving off possible sectarian violence.