October 18, 2006
THE BLISSFUL BELTWAY (via Tom Morin):
Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite? (JEFF STEIN, 10/17/06, NY Times)
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?â€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? [...]
[S]o far, most American officials I’ve interviewed don’t have a clue. That includes not just intelligence and law enforcement officials, but also members of Congress who have important roles overseeing our spy agencies. How can they do their jobs without knowing the basics?
Badly? Posted by Orrin Judd at October 18, 2006 8:39 PM
Oops, I thought I had addressed this posting at about 5:00 am this morning. Regardless, it is an important issue and perhaps someone knowlegdeable about theology such as OJ, Peter, or PJ would explain the significant differences between Shiite and Sunni. Especially in their view of westerners.
An interesting anecdote is that John Lind Walker, misguided Marin County hot-tubber, went to Yemen and wanted to pray in the presence of Sunni and only Sunni, but he was confused, because in Yemen, the Shiite (minority) and the Sunni attend the same Mosques. In other countries that is not the case.
Posted by: h-man at October 19, 2006 9:30 AMwww.brothersjudd.com/blog/archives/2003/09/the_third_great_foundation_of_1.html
Posted by: oj at October 19, 2006 10:45 AM