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How Iraqis Assess Egypt's Coup

Iraqis who view the Middle East’s developments from a purely sectarian perspective would do well to reconsider that approach as regional events play out.
A member of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporter of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi climbs up the main door of the Attorney General's office to spray a graffiti, which reads "Interior thugs", above posters of Mursi during a protest at the courthouse in downtown Cairo August 5, 2013. Several thousand Islamist supporters of Mursi marched through downtown Cairo on Monday calling for his reinstatement and denouncing the army general who led his overthrow. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLIT
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In the Middle East’s overlapping and complex demographic, cultural, geographical and historic structure, we should not view a local crisis as having internal causes and effects. The region is aflame in crises that come from similar sources and spread just like a liquid spills from one container to another.

Iraqis see the latest changes in Egypt from different angles, and, as usual, they are split on the matter. Some Iraqi Sunnis who sympathize with the Muslim Brotherhood for sectarian reasons also sympathize with deposed Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi and describe what happened as a coup. Some Shiite parties that do not sympathize with the Brotherhood for sectarian reasons rejoice over what happened to Morsi.

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