The Iraqis' Stories: Fleeing Iraqis face uncertain future

SIXTH OF OCTOBER CITY, Egypt Every night, the Iraqi men gather at a small shop to drink cups of sweetened black tea and lament the violence back home. On one recent night, the talk turned to a militant Sunni Muslim group's claim that it has established an Islamic state in central Iraq.

"It is over," said Abu Ghassan, one of the Iraqi men, a Sunni. "The Kurds have already set up their own state in the north and next will be the Shiites in the south. Iraq will be just a history."

"If they are serious, then Baghdad will be burning as never before. Where will we go back to?" interrupted Abu Hossam, a Shiite.

"I have even a worse dilemma," said Abu Ali, a Faili or small minority of Shiite-Kurds who belong to tribes living on the eastern border with Iran, who many Iraqis view as Iranians.

"You can move to your portion of the remnants of Iraq," he told his friends. "But I doubt that we can find a safe place there anymore."

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