Swimming with the Shi'ites?

Who are we supporting? -- Picture courtesy Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Iraq's Prime Minister al-Maliki is in a bit of a quandary. As a democratically elected "moderate" Shi'ite, his mandate is to steer Iraq towards the ways of Democracy. However, the Iraq army and police are heavily infiltrated by insurgents and inadequate for any real enforcement purposes. The Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shi'ite cleric, is far more influential on al-Maliki's governance. Al-Sadr, who has been characterized as a powerful mafia don dispensing favors, now has representation in the Iraqi Assembly -- he needs little more encouragement beyond that. Radical Shi'ites feel legitimate to advance their aggressive campaign.

The picture is even worse when one considers the chaotic mess that comprises the Iraqi government. In the December 4th issue of Newsweek, staff writer Fareed Zakaria tells of a national government whose ministries have become factionized fortresses; the Ministries of Health and Interior are Shi'ite strongholds while the Ministry of Higher Education is Sunni-dominated. Sunnis recently attacked the Ministry of Health, and the attack was answered by the Shi'ites' mass-kidnapping of personnel in the Education ministry. All of this harks back to the French Revolution where the "Committee for Public Safety" was anything but that -- it oversaw the guillotine executions. The middle class has fled Iraq and it's said that a dentist is no where to be found in Baghdad. The situation is so horrific that relatives coming to identify a loved one at the city morgue may be shot themselves. Bodies go unidentified and a relative not seen for a while may be presumed dead. As many as 20 different militias representing different strains of Islam have turned Baghdad into a crazy quilt of no-drive zones and deadly check points.

The United States has tacitly sided with the Shi'ites whether we admit it or not. We are propping up the al-Maliki government, which also is propped by al-Sadr and his army. Perhaps now we should consider the company we keep. The December 4th issue of TIME magazine tells of this lovely person -- a Shi'ite warlord named Abu Deraa. He has been dubbed the "Shi'ite Zarqawi” because of his gruesome torture techniques. One of his favorite techniques is drilling holes into the skulls of live victims. He's the prime suspect in the above-mentioned kidnapping and many of the 153 victims have not been heard from since. Zakaria rightly asks, "What are we protecting here?" If we add 20,000 troops or pull back 8,000 troops, what difference does it make? Is the al-Maliki government what we or anyone desires as an end result?

Sunnis have received a bum rap out of all the furor from 9/11 and its resultant wars. To identify all Sunnis as al-Qaeda sympathizers would be much like identifying all American Protestants as members of KKK. 85% of the Muslim world is Sunni, and it just happens that a big percentage of the Shi'ites dwell in Iraq. If a government structure is not formulated that gives power and presence to Sunnis, the violence is certain to rage on. Saudi Arabia has now suggested that they will support Sunnis if America does not. This is a harbinger of regional war and other nasty consequences to come. When George W. Bush and his neocons opened this Pandora's Box, did they ever imagine the monsters it would release? And now we must ask -- can the monsters go back in the box?

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