I think you are right eclectics. The problem with instituting democracy is that it requires not only the acceptance of majority will but the protection of minority rights. That is what is not appreciated. Here you can support the losing slate secure in the knowledge that you will not lose your job, be arrested executed or in any way marginalized by the loss. Plus, there are plenty of mechanisms that grant minorities influence in legislation, etc. Thus, you wait ill the next election - political power is not winner takes all.
That is not necessarily the reality in Iraq.
The Sunnis are acting perfectly rationally. As a group, they have little claim for sympathy (though individual circumstances certainly vary widely) in that they oppressed the Shia and the Kurds (who are actually largely Sunni but still treated as an ethnic minority) for years. Sunnis have been traditionally dominant in the Arab world, both in polities where they were the majority and in those where they are the minority, like Iraq. The Shia want majority power now, and you can't argue that they are not deserving. But if they use it to settle scores, even to a limited extent, expect the Sunnis to fight all the way. Though they are the minority, they were the Republican Guard, and have far greater military training (and weapons caches). Though it may be rough justice, at least on a group level, don't expect the Sunnis to accept minority status if it means oppression. The only way they will accept a majority elected central government in Iraq is of they know they will be protected and allowed to prosper. That's the challenge
