Iraq's Real Holy War

[SOS]

Eight weeks before the bombing of Baghdad, Bush did not know that there were two forms of Islam in Iraq, according to Iraqi defectors who met with him in January 2003. Yesterday's NYT op-ed page sheds some light on this topic. Too bad Bush doesn't read. Here are some edited snips:

Iraq's Real Holy War by Vali Nasr - NYT 3/6/04

"The attacks bring to light a grave problem facing America: the Shiite revival in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated a Sunni militancy that in turn threatens peace and stability in a broad swath of Asia from Pakistan to Lebanon...It would be a mistake to view the anti-Shiite violence in Iraq as the work of a small group of terrorists and limited to Iraqi politics.

Anti-Shiism is embedded in the ideology of Sunni militancy that has risen to prominence across the region. Wahhabi Sunnis have led the charge, declaring Shiites "infidels" and hence justifying their murder. The legacy of Wahhabi violence against Shiites dates back to at least 1801, when Wahhabi armies from the Arabian Peninsula invaded southern Iraq and desecrated the holy shrine at Karbala.

It is virtually unthinkable to many Sunnis that one of the most important Arab countries Ñ the seat of the Abbasid Empire from the 8th to 13th centuries - which established Sunni supremacy, would pass from Sunni to Shiite domination. In militant Sunni circles, it is taken as proof of an American conspiracy against them. Thus Sunni militancy is not only inherently anti-Shiite, but anti-American as well."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/06/opinion/06NASR.html

How will this play out? Doesn't look promising.....

[aldian159]

1. Does not look promising at all

It looks like there will be hell to pay once power is transfered, if it ever is transfered.