"Pretty standard for Democrats."
Except that the article lists 1 Democrat, 2 Republicans and one Administration appointee.
At any rate I have been giving the question of Sunni vs Shia considerable thought, and here is something that I have not heard discussed to any extent anywhere, although as the "civil war" in Iraq progresses, some are beginning to become somewhat aware of the fundamental problem.
An article posted at FR asked "What is our objective in Iraq."
As a parent whose son spent 8 months in Gulf War I with the 82nd Airborne, and who just came back from 8 months in Afghanistan, this is an important question to me. I was glad that we were going to take out Saddam Hussein, and although no one mentions it, one fine result of this war is that we will never have to deal with his two mentally diseased sons Uday and Qusay. Unfortunately, it appears that many mistakes were made in trying to secure the peace after our lightening "win" on the battlefield.
Now, of course, the whole situation has gotten much more complicated, with a pinch of Lebanon, a cup of Syria, a quart of Iran, and a generous sprinkling of Al Qaida. What no one seems to be focusing on is the fighting that is now going on within the Islamic world. Which is becoming a very ugly stew. Yesterday was a prime example with the execution of a leader and his 3 children as a result of in- fighting between Palistinian factions Hammas and Fatah. Shia Iran assisted us against the Sunni Taliban and Al Qaida. The Sunnis and Druzes of Lebanon have already fought the Shiites. The Shia and Sunni in Iraq are at each other's throats, except the Sunni Kurds who are trying to stay out of it, and probably deserve our support the most. And the Alawites of Syria have their own position which is not necessarily the same as Iran's.
We must RECOGNIZE and STRATEGIZE based on the fact in appears the Islamic world is in about the place the Christian world was in 4 or 5 centuries ago with the conflicts of the Protestant Reformation. Perhaps a useful strategy for us would be to educate the Islamic world on just how deadly and painful those conflicts were. We had the Hundred Years War, the Thirty Years War, the conflicts in England, Scotland and Ireland with Catholicism vs Protestantism, then the Anglican church vs the Presbeterians, Puritans, etc., and many variatons upon thos themes. Surely it would make sense to hold up to the Islamic world the lesson of the millions of Christians who died in those terrible conflicts. If not, Islam will surely endure the same kind of suffering. "Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them."
Whether we actually decide to promote this as a strategy or not, if we are not very clear that this is a major factor, we will continue to be fighting the wrong fight in the wrong way.
Appreciate your insight on the current various fighting groups (since I would flunk the test also).
Maybe part of the real strategy in Iraq is to "ignore" the "civil war." Seems it would work...let them fight each other instead of allied troops.
Interesting article some time back in the Naval Institute Proceedings--the author argued that Arab civilization is in the midst of a collapse, and gave a bunch of metrics to support his thesis.