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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BigBull who wrote (37244)	8/12/2002 11:44:58 AM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi BigBull; Re: "Right, but Saddam is desperately trying to morph away from being a secular leader into being a champion of the Islamist cause." The Islamic Fundamentalists are split between Sunni and Shia. Since Saddam chooses neither of these, but instead chooses Iraqi nationalism, his brand of nationalism has little popularity outside the country. Technically, he's Sunni, but Iraq has important Shia holy places. Now suppose, for the sake of argument, that you believe in Christianity to such a high degree that you're willing, no eager, to give your life so that you can instantly advance to Heaven and spend Eternity sitting next to the feet of the Master. Do you think that you would be unable to decide whether Sunni or Shia were correct? Now do you see why I believe that Saddam will never unite himself as a leader of Islamic Fundamentalists? The nature of his position is to remain stuck on a fence. What he's doing is trying to lead a pan-Arab nationalist movement. Because of the split between Sunni and Shia, that movement has to either be secular, or it has to include the Islamic religion only to the extent that the US includes the Christian / Jewish / Moslem religions (i.e. the slogan "In God We Trust" is on our coins but not in our hearts). Re: "He is currently subsidizing Islamist militia in their war against civilians in Israel." The Palestinian suicide bombing is more secular than what you're saying here. And besides, there were zero Palestinians (or Iraqis) on those 4 hijacked aircraft. The terrorists were believers in very specific brands of Islam, they were not pan-Arabists like Saddam. The Islamic fundamentalists call Saddam Hussein an atheist. The boogey-man of a united Islam is a fantasy. One day the Arab countries will be united, I predict, but it will be in peace (like Europe), and it won't be for many decades. The problem is these people are some of the least religiously tolerant on the face of the planet, and they can't agree amongst themselves. -- Carl