Divide and conquer. Pretty arrogant of us. Romans anyone? We are trying to build a secular class of Muslim, the "American" Muslim to build backing to resist dirty faced muslims or Eastern/Euro Muslims.
BTW it looks like we are using the same tactics to subdue Iraq. that would be the tactics practiced by invaders since time immemorial, divide and conquer. It's how the Spanish defeated 3 million indians. It's how the Americans defeated Philippino insurgency in 1899. It's the winning way, beat the hell out of the republicans in a country and turn them on the real power center. We are in the process of subduing Sunni Iraq to use them to help us subdue the rest. Meanwhile liberals contemplate their navels.
The Sunni Iraqis would represent the Republican Iraqis or people who have the strongest attachment to the traditional state. The Shiites are the target of our real derision. We don't do much business with Shiites. Would it be bad for the USA if Sunnis and Shiites refused to dialog, preferring bullets instead? Probably not.