-
Recently Written
-
Blogroll
-
Reads
-
memeorandum
-
Admin
Search
the tyee
-
Oct
18
Sunni, Shi’ite, Wahhabi, Wasabi: Let’s call the whole thing off
October 18, 2006 |
At the end of a long interview, I asked Willie Hulon, chief of the bureau’s new national security branch, whether he thought that it was important for a man in his position to know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites. “Yes, sure, it’s right to know the difference,” he said. “It’s important to know who your targets are.”That was a big advance over 2005. So next I asked him if he could tell me the difference. He was flummoxed. “The basics goes back to their beliefs and who they were following,” he said. “And the conflicts between the Sunnis and the Shia and the difference between who they were following.”O.K., I asked, trying to help, what about today? Which one is Iran — Sunni or Shiite? He thought for a second. “Iran and Hezbollah,” I prompted. “Which are they?”
He took a stab: “Sunni.”
Wrong.
Al Qaeda? “Sunni.”
Right. (nyt)
What is really troubling about this is that it really is not that hard to get a grip on the two main strains of Islam. But if you don’t have that basic knowledge then the variants in Sunni theology leading to the reforms of Wahhabism which leads, more or less directly, to large aircrat hitting even larger buildings are beyond you. And you will sound like a lunatic talking about an Islamic Reformation (which has arguably already happened) when what you actually mean is an islamic Enlightenment.
The happy chat idea that these are minor details best left to experts mean that policy will be made by people who are entirely clueless. And, looking at the Sunni/Shi’ite civil war going on in Iraq at the moment, cluelessness is the order of the day.
In fact, if this basic knowledge is absent, a great deal of what has gone wrong in Iraq since the invasion - including the gormless decision to try to retain the 1919 borders and unitary state - begins to make an awful sort of sense. If you don’t know that there are Sunnis and Shi’ites with a long and bloody history of sectarian genocides, slaughters and martyrdom keeping Iraq united probably looked like a sensible idea.
The good news is that there is virtually no sectarian dimension to Wasabi…it is the root from which the delicious hot mustard accompanying sushi is made.
Comments
1 Comment so far
Sean says,
“”If you don’t know that there are Sunnis and Shi’ites with a long and bloody history of sectarian genocides, slaughters and martyrdom keeping Iraq united probably looked like a sensible idea.”
It’s also a sensible idea if you think having your enemies kill each other for you is cheaper than using your own bombs. We need to mix Sunnis and Shiites together whenever possible.