Ethnoreligious Areas
Iraq has long been a religious, ethnic and ideological mix. Shiite Muslim Arabs are the majority, but Saddam's Baathists were Sunni Muslims. In forming a new government, Shiite leaders insisted their share of power should reflect its majority, a position that worried other minorities as well as Iraq's mostly Sunni Arab neighbors. Iyad Allawi, a Shiite who was chosen as prime minister of the interim government, heads a group that stresses secularism and counts Sunnis and Shiites among its members.

<<< Click on the categories at left to see where these groups inhabit Iraq.