Iraq is not Iran...

If we're going to be fighting Muslim enemies, we REALLY need to understand Muslims.

I'm not Muslim, I've never been, but with even my limited understanding of the Muslim world, I understand the following things:

1) Sunni Muslims hate Shiite Muslims and vice versa.
2) Strict religious Muslims have nothing but disdain for more secular Muslims.

These two pieces of information are VITAL to understanding the region.

What brings me to write this is that I'm watching The Daily Show. More and more lately, the interview portion of the show is serious, with Jon Stewart cracking wise, but the guest being serious about some topic or other. Tonight's guest is one Kenneth Timmerman, who has written a book about Iran. Within his first thirty seconds, he said: [Iran is] a confirmed terrorist state. They've been murdering Americans for twenty years. In Lebanon, they've been murdering them in Saudi Arabia. Today they're murdering them in Iraq, through the insurgency in Iraq.

The Muslim leaders (Clerics) of Iran are Shiite Muslims. The insurgents are lead by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a member of al Qaeda and a Sunni. If there is anyone the Shiites hate more than either Americans or secular Muslims (the former Iraqi government) it is the Sunnis. They would no more work together with the Sunnis than a born again Christian would willingly work with a devil worshipper.

The same tenuous argument was made attempting to link Iraq and Saddam Hussein to al Qaeda. At least in that case, Hussein is ostensibly a Sunni. But Osama bin Ladin is known to have considered Hussein a secular Muslim, and to have had no respect for him whatsoever. There is simply no chance that the two would have worked together.

One of the most important tactics in any war is understanding the enemy. If we are going to persist in waging wars in Muslim countries, we must take the time to understand their culture, or we will never be successful.

Copyright (c) June 17, 2005 by Liam Johnson. http://www.liamjohnson.net