Were sectarian differences a problem in Iraq before the 2003 US invasion?

"A great deal of misinformation has been spread in the Western press concerning religious differences in Iraq. It is true that religious and sectarian differences could create problems in some countries, but not in Iraq. I am not saying we do not have any problems at all. Any leader would prefer his people to think from one point of view, to be of one religion, one sect, in one city. The Iraqi people think from various angles but agree on one central point. We have Sunnis and Shi'ites here, that is a fact. But all of them are Iraqis, and all of them love their revolution. They are fighting their enemy with the same spirit."

"Mr. Kissinger was...in error when he referred to centuries of conflict between Iraqis. On the contrary, despite the diversity of the Iraqi population, people have lived together in harmony in this part of the world for centuries. Although the population was often difficult to subdue by central government, a real civil conflict, based on ethnic or sectarian animosities, was rare."

"Growing up in Nasiriya, Iraq, Rod Shoubber mainly knew fellow Shiites. There were Sunnis in the neighborhood, and his uncle married a Sunni. The groups co-existed peacefully, he said, even as Saddam Hussein persecuted Shiites.

'We never felt sectarian issues between us,' said Shoubber, 52, a Santa Clara resident, whose father and eight siblings live in Iraq. 'It wasn't an issue at that time...

After the invasion, it brought all the historical issues of Sunni and Shia to the surface,' said Shoubber, whose former San Bruno home was the site of a visit in 2002 from current Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Sunnis, who had more power than Shiites when Hussein ruled, 'have changed hearts,' he said...

The power vacuum that formed after Hussein's fall has allowed old divisions to return, UC Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian said. Fueling the conflict are colonial histories, the rule of monarchs, the threat of U.S. influence over the Arab world and the Sunni-Shiite sectarian issues."

"Iraqi Shia and Sunnis have lived in harmony for centuries. Historically, the two sects lived in the same areas, intermarried, worked together and didn't fight over religious beliefs. During the decade of U.S.-imposed sanctions, Iraq's generally secular society became far more religious. This transformation even affected the secular Baathist regime, which gave Islam a bigger role in schools and other aspects of everyday life. Still, there were no social conflicts based on religious differences in the country.

When the United States ousted Saddam Hussein in April 2003, crime spiked and full-scale looting erupted. But there were still no signs of sectarian clashes. That quickly changed, however, as the U.S. administration assumed control over Iraq, led by Paul Bremer."

"I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They refuse to believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political parties fueled this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on and on about Iraq's history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict and I hate that. I hate that a handful of expats who haven't been to the country in decades pretend to know more about it than people actually living there.

I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn't know what our neighbors were- we didn't care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night."