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This paper highlights the social delinking currently at work within Iraqi society, and more precisely the nature and roots of the extreme violence that characterizes most of the relationships between individuals and groups. The authors first deconstruct the myth of an ontologically violent society––a myth that deeply informs not only the commonly held, and the media’s, representations about Iraq, but a large part of the expert literature as well. They then offer a critical review of the mainstream Iraqi sociological discourse, with its often very essentialist preconceptions of the country’s social and political dynamics. Finally, from interpretations based on empirical observations, some thoughts are proposed to rationalize as much as possible the explanation of the forms of violence observable in present-day Iraq.