You don’t know the difference between a Sunni and a Shia, do you.  Admit it — you don’t.  That’s okay — you’re in good company (the head of the House Intelligence Committee didn’t know either).

Seriously, Iraq is complicated.  Which is why I recommend this piece by Mother Jones, specifically written to get everybody (myself included) up to speed on Iraq.  It’s called Iraq 101, and explains what you need to know.

Full of nice easy-to-read graphs.  Here’s an illuminating one.  You know the theory that if we fight terrorists in Iraq, we won’t have to fight them elsewhere?  Turns out, not so much.  Terrorism outside of Iraq and Afghanistan has gone up following our invasion of those countries.