U.S. STRATEGY WAS TO DEPLOY SHIA TO TORTURE SUNNI DETAINEES
Led to rise of al Qaeda influence

"... a U.S. military order directing U.S. forces not to investigate cases of torture of detainees by Iraqis... was part of a larger U.S. strategy of exploiting Shi'a sectarian hatred against Sunnis to help suppress the Sunni insurgency when Sunnis had rejected the U.S. war. And Gen. David Petraeus was a key figure in developing the strategy of using Shi'a and Kurdish forces to suppress Sunnis in 2004-2005. The strategy involved the deliberate deployment of Shi'a and Kurdish police commandoes in areas of Sunni insurgency in the full knowledge that they were torturing Sunni detainees...

"That strategy inflamed Sunni fears of Shi'a rule and was a major contributing factor to the rise of al Qaeda's influence in the Sunni areas..."

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53426