Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?

[beyoku]

Article at the NYT - No registration required

FOR the past several months, I?ve been wrapping up lengthy interviews with Washington counterterrorism officials with a fundamental question: ?Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite??

A ?gotcha? question? Perhaps. But if knowing your enemy is the most basic rule of war, I don?t think it?s out of bounds. And as I quickly explain to my subjects, I?m not looking for theological explanations, just the basics: Who?s on what side today, and what does each want?

After all, wouldn?t British counterterrorism officials responsible for Northern Ireland know the difference between Catholics and Protestants? In a remotely similar but far more lethal vein, the 1,400-year Sunni-Shiite rivalry is playing out in the streets of Baghdad, raising the specter of a breakup of Iraq into antagonistic states, one backed by Shiite Iran and the other by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states.

Just a bit of the article posted. (Bolded by me.) This difference is something that i learned in highshcool, i think 10th grade, and i think its very important to understand the dynamic of that part of the world. I find it sad that so many "Washington counterterrorism officials" dont know this difference. They cant say which is which, what groups belong to what sects and what each group is fighting over. Also i think this is one of the reasons WE (West) attempts to group all these groups together under the label of "islamic terrorism." We truly do not know our enemy.

Another comment i would like to make is the amazing similarity with the events in Iraq (civil war) with what went on in African countries after independance. As i read the book "The Fate of Africa" - Martin Meredith (Detailing the history of every African's country's independence in the last 50 years) There are so many similarites. Anyone that has seen the history of Africa after independance can see the same in Iraq. Iraq is bit different because WE have major influence, both political and economical in the Country (BUT just as France and England had in Africa after colonialism)

If Africa is any indication of what will happen in Iraq: There WILL be a civil war. It will be bloody and tens if not 100's of thousands of people will die. It will take a long time for Iraq to get its economy off the ground and even with oil revenues they have the ability to squander it with bad leadership and economics. (Nigeria was the 6th largest Oil exported worldwide in 1979 worth 24Billion yearly.....what happened??) We will also be there for a long long time. I dont really know what to make of these observations but i guess it "is what it is." Just as Africa - Iraq wants us OUT, i dont think they care if they can do a better job or not.

Any Comments??

 

[beyoku]

Also from slate - Four strategies for averting civil war.

In the wake of Bosnia and Rwanda, the assumption is that ethnically divided countries can never function. But countless countries at risk of civil war have been able to avoid going over the cliff. The most famous example is South Africa. Under apartheid, the country was widely seen as a likely candidate for a massive and devastating all-out civil war, yet despite some substantial violence, it managed to transform into today's multiethnic democracy. Throughout Africa, as the Stanford civil war experts James Fearon and David Laitin point out, 18,000 examples of ethnic groups interacting regularly with each other between 1960 and 1979 led to only 52 civil wars.

 

[umbrella39]

LOL, some can't even tell Shiite from Shinola 🙂

 

[ayabe]

Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?

Yes but important members of Congress cannot:

Rep. Terry Everett (R-AL), asked if he knows the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims: ?Mr. Everett responded with a low chuckle. He thought for a moment: ?One?s in one location, another?s in another location. No, to be honest with you, I don?t know. I thought it was differences in their religion, different families or something.?? Everett is the vice chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

 

[beyoku]

Bush didnt know the difference as well.