The increased presence has come with increased risk, putting more American troops in the direct path of sectarian battles on Baghdad's streets.

By December 2004, there were also signs that the police were being drawn into the evolving sectarian battles.

The intellectual excitement generated in the heady months of the winter 1640-1 was dispelled by the Civil War, and the sectarian battles that followed it.

It is also working to minimize provocations in Northern Ireland's coming season of parades celebrating past sectarian battles.

That is true, but the founders insisted on religious freedom, mindful of something else: the danger of sectarian battle.

A return to the sectarian battles of 1972 onward is still a possibility - pessimistically, until the current generation of die-hards passes on.

The result is recrimination - at times, the fights among conservatives are reminiscent of the sectarian battles that have torn apart so many Marxist political parties.

A sectarian battle has been under way for months in Diyala, which is at least 50 percent Sunni, with Shiites and Kurds making up the balance of the population.

Though many in Maliki's government regard Shahwani with suspicion, his supporters say he has tried to remain independent of the sectarian battles in Iraq.

While the politicians battled in Parliament, the sectarian battle on the streets went on unabated, with 25 people killed by a suicide car bomb in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad.