This is a terrific article: long, but well worth reading in its entirety. This bit explained an awful lot to me, regarding the ferocity of the "insurgents":
No one is under any illusions as to what the Sunni Arabs would have done had oil been located in their provinces. They would have disowned both north and south and opted for a smaller world of their own and defended it with the sword. But this was not to be, and their war is the panic of a community that fears that it could be left with a realm of "gravel and sand."
There is hope if people like Mr. Ajami are teaching the youth today; THAT is what a political thinker is supposed to do!
I sometimes wonder how a Muslim or Buddhist would feel if they got in the middle of a typical Irish protestant/Catholic conflict; about like most Americans trying to keep track of Shiite vs Sunni:-)