Local Muslim community closely watches violence, unrest in Iraq

With the Sunni extremists pushing toward Baghdad and the U.S. weighing its options the Muslim community in Colorado Springs watches.

Pakistani Arshad Yousufi says the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Kurds cannot co-exist in Iraq as evidence by the killings.

“The problem is the existing strategy needs to change,” Yousufi said. “We can get by without intervening if we get the right constitution in place that guarantees a sense of autonomy for the Sunnis like the Kurds already have in the Northern part of Iraq.

Isis is exclusively Sunni. The Maliki government that’s in peril is Shiite

Here at home, President Obama has pledged not to send combat forces.

Colorado College professor David Hendrickson, who wrote a recent essay on the Iraqi civil war believes the United States cannot afford to go back.

“We tried to build this state after smashing it and have not been successful,” Hendrickson said. “There are limits to American influence in Iraq and we all need to realize that.”

As Muslims at the Islamic Society of Colorado Springs pray for the innocent victims, local families are too afraid to speak out.

“Iraq is not like America where you have freedom of speech,” Yousufi said. “So, if refugees say something that is perceived negatively, they can be severe repercussions for the family that’s left behind.”