Without checking (at least not too much):
1. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Kurdistan.
2. Politically, Ali al-Sistani is pulling a lot of strings. He's pretty much the HMFIC of the Shia, religiously, in Iraq. He's got strong ties to Iran and serves as an Ayatollah.
3. Bagdad, Kirkuk, Tikrit, Mosul, Fallujah, Al-Qaim.
4. No clear exit strategy exists.
5. Insurgent elements that include former regime elements, disgruntled Shia, foreign fighters, disgruntled Sunni, rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.
6. The Mahdi Army, led by that sonnofabitch Moqtada al-Sadr, is decidedly Shia. "Al Qaeda In the Land of the Two Rivers" is generally Sunni with Wahabi leanings, especially amongst the leadership. The Army of Dakness (Arabic: Jaysh al-Thalaam) keeps the Necronomicon as their Holy Book; they are known as the Deadites.
7. It's an old disagreement based on who should succeed the Prophet Mohammed as leader of Islam. The Sunnis generally favored a leader based on perceived knowledge whereas the Shia attempted a pseudo-bloodline succession. They both insist they are right and the other is wrong and treat the opposing view as sacrilegious.
8. Seven degrees of Kevin Ba... Saddam Hussein.
9. Far too many.
10. Far too many. And it's "minutemen" not "freedom fighters."
11. Far too tempted to continue the "far too many" joke.
12. The Shia outnumber the Sunni... 2 to 1? 3 to 1? There are so few Sunni Arabs that the Kurds outnumber them, even. The Sunni feel pretty disenfranchised by the whole process, especially since they were used to much better treatment under Saddam.
13. Here's where it's appropriate: Far too many. And then, not enough.
14. You know I'm terrible with Chain of Command questions. Or board questions in general. (That's obviously why the 1SG chose me to go to NCO of the Quarter on Wednesday.)
15. I believe it was the British.
16. It's basically a footstool, sometimes with little roller wheels on the bottom. They're expensive because they figure if you lack the sense needed to not buy one you lack the sense to not pay exorbitant amounts for one.
17. His only role model was himself, no?
18. Whole foods is your best bet. I got mine at a "hippy" food store: lots of organic foods in there. Hummis (more often spelt hummus) is defined as "mashed chickpeas (Garbanzo beans)" according to the handouts I got at the beginning of DLI. I think that was on my first vocab list. It also includes garlic and oil and maybe a few other spices. I'm completely ignorant of the NW, tho; good luck with the schwarmas and yakimandu.
19. The Assyrians and the Ottomans? Ancient Babylon? Saddman Hussein's Republican Guards were modeled after Gilgamesh.
20. Ur... um. Look out, it's Tiamat!
21. Far too many.
22. Kurd (not to be confused with the Arabic word for monkey) is an ethnic division apart from "Arab." They are not Arabs although they come from the same part of the world and much of their culture is similar to Arabs of that region. They have their own language which is more similar to Farsi than Arabic. Saddam enjoyed gassing the Kurds and denying it to foreignors.
23. IED/VBIED/suicide bombs. The insurgency has been content with mass civilian casualties although from what I've been reading they've readjusted their weapons to attempt to bypass our defenses (again) and are attempting to target US Forces more often.
24. Ramadan is a (lunar) month long "holiday" which features the Eid Al-Fitr at the end of it (Feast of Breaking the Fast). Some Iraqis (even non-Christians) celebrate Christmas. Friday (Yowm al-Juma'a) is the day of gathering for worship.
25. They like to say that it's only Al-Anbar that is the hot spot right now, but there are two or three other provinces that approach it in number of attacks. Add to that the fact that Al-Anbar is far and away the largest province (although only sparsely populated compared to some). It gets "Africa hot" or slightly hotter.
And I was actually serious for about half of this.
