Will Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites ever be able to live in harmony? CNN Poll

[spanone]

www.cnn.com 84% no

[kenny blankenship]

1. Of course, under a dictatorship of the Shia majority

Shia Islam more or less begins in Iraq, or hearkens back to a signal event that occured in Iraq. Hussayn Ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammed was killed in battle at Kerbala, attempting to carry forward the leadership claims of the line of descent from the Prophet. Hussayn's tomb is a shrine still there in a mosque in Kerbala, making Kerbala the 4th holiest city in Islam. That event in 680CE marks the beginning of permanent schism between Sunni and Shia. in addition, Hussayn's father is believed to be buried in Najaf also in Iraq. Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the son of the prophet, like Hussayn gives his name to a magnificent mosque and shrine, to which Muslim pilgrims travel at a volume surpassed only by Mecca and Medina. The Sunni as well as the Shia regard these two cities, Kerbala and Najaf, as holy places. Over the centuries there have been wars between Sunni and Shia powers for control of Iraq. However, since the other holy cities of Islam are completely in the possession of Sunni countries, the holy cities of Iraq have a special significance to Shia Muslims. Now that the Sunni-Shia rift has been re-activated there by boneheaded U.S. meddling, and now that the Shia of Iraq have the power themselves to claim all of Iraq and its holy cities for their sect, I think it's pissing into a very strong wind to act like they'll stop short of outright possession of the country. Most of the oil is also on Shia lands. They're just going to take whatever parts of Iraq they want whether that's all of it or just the parts most important to them. They've been waiting for centuries for the worm to turn and they can CERTAINLY wait out the United States, aided by our gnat-like political attention span and transitory objectives.

[SoCalDem]

2. NO

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