11. There Go the Neighbourhoods: Policy Effects vis-à-vis Iraqi Forced Migration Nabil Al-Tikriti Commentators frequently affirm that sectarian violence in Iraq springs from age-old ethnic tensions which long pre-date American involvement in the region. While the relevant sectarian identities do date back several centuries, sectarian violence has not persisted as a social constant through- out the millennia of regional history. Rather, outbreaks of sectarian violence have erupted on highly specific occasions, most of which can be explained through careful analysis of the particular social stresses at the time. As in other societies, when long-term shifts such as dwindling natural resources, mass migration, or changes in social identity are inflamed by deliberate and short-term policy choices, violence can break out. In accordance with this presumption and projection of age-old ethnic tensions is the perception of Iraqi society as little more than an unnatural British creation of the early twentieth century, held together solely by brute force. Those who see Iraq this way envision three distinct ethno-sectarian regions: a Shi’i Arab southern Iraq, Sunni Arab central Iraq, and Sunni Kurdish northern Iraq. Particularly uninformed observers tend to view these Iraqi geographic divisions according to the tripartite ‘no-fly zone’ borders of 1991–2003. While this simplified portrayal does bear some general resemblance to ethno-sectarian reality, it provides insufficient contextual information to competently engage with Iraqi society. In the wake of the 2003 Anglo-American invasion, occupation author- ities instituted policies which in their effect —if perhaps not in their intent —encouraged a gradual, progressive, and incessant increase of social chaos and sectarianism that eventually culminated in the violent geographic consolidation of Iraq’s ethno-sectarian mapping. Ironically, this remapping has all but created the Iraq that American policy makers imagined already existed in 2003. 249 11 Chapter 1735 17/11/09 12:37 Page 249