Steve Sailor asks: "Do we really know what we are doing over there?" That is, are the "good Muslims" the Shia'ah (who we're supporting in Iraq, but opposing in Iran and Lebanon) or the Sunni (who are willing to let the Israeli whomp the Shia'ah for awhile in Lebanon, and need our protection in Iraq)?
To me, if it were easier to draw that distinction between good and bad (apparently there are even some terrorist versions of the Sufi sect) we'd be in pretty dire straits. It's the very complexity of the situation that's its saving grace. And the fact that we can't immediately identify who is good and who isn't by which sect they belong to suggests not only that there's another influence at work... more akin to Hegel and Marx than Ali or Muhammed, but that there are some creative things to be done that work to our advantage. For instance, it'd be really neato if we could peel Syria away, leaving Iran in sole possession of the Hezbollah franchise.
Strictly speaking, I simply don't know enough about the religious edicts of various versions of Islam to make an informed decision about who is, or isn't, a potential ally. Instead, I suggest we just oppose the people who are trying to kill us and ally ourselves with whoever isn't trying to do that. Thus, we let people who claim to know a lot more about their own religion make the critical decisions.
But having said that, I'm willing to consider that Steve Sailor may not know Shinola from its various substitutes.
Posted by Demosophist at July 23, 2006 03:59 PM