In Bizarre Twist Sunni Splinter Group Threatens Iran With War
"The leader of an al-Qaida umbrella group in Iraq threatened to wage war against Iran unless it stops supporting Shiites in Iraq within two months, according to an audiotape released Sunday," the Associated Press reported earlier this week. Click here to read the whole article.
Sunnis and Arab countries doing business with Iran were also given a two month warning to cease and desist. "We advise and warn every Sunni businessman inside Iran or in Arab countries especially in the Gulf not to take partnership with any Shiite Iranian businessman -- this is part of the two-month period," al-Baghdadi said. Kurds were also condemned for supporting Iraq's Shiite government.
In my opinion, this ridiculous farce underscores the impossibility of ever finding a common ground in which Iraqis could live in peace. There will never be respect or acceptance between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. While, as a Westerner, I fail to comprehend the importance of what seems to me to be minute differences in religious and political philosophy and the fanatical fervor with which centuries old slights dictate current behavior in the Middle East, it is clear to me that no side in this unlikely threesome is willing to compromise.
In all the chaos and highly charged emotion rampant in Iraq, it is only a matter of time before a loose cannon like al-Baghdadi sets off the bomb that breaks the camel's back and ends any semblance of political cooperation in that part of the world. As the rage of Iran or Turkey scream down upon Iraq, devouring its borders, peace may finally come to this divided country. But it will be the iron-fisted "peace" of a new Saddam.
In a bizarre 50-minute audiotape posted on a terrorist website, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the Sunni splinter group Islamic State in Iraq, threatened to launch an attack against Shiite-dominated Iran saying, "We are giving the Persians, and especially the rulers of Iran, a two month period to end all kinds of support for the Iraqi Shiite government and to stop direct and indirect intervention ... otherwise a severe war is waiting for you."
Sunnis and Arab countries doing business with Iran were also given a two month warning to cease and desist. "We advise and warn every Sunni businessman inside Iran or in Arab countries especially in the Gulf not to take partnership with any Shiite Iranian businessman -- this is part of the two-month period," al-Baghdadi said. Kurds were also condemned for supporting Iraq's Shiite government.
In my opinion, this ridiculous farce underscores the impossibility of ever finding a common ground in which Iraqis could live in peace. There will never be respect or acceptance between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. While, as a Westerner, I fail to comprehend the importance of what seems to me to be minute differences in religious and political philosophy and the fanatical fervor with which centuries old slights dictate current behavior in the Middle East, it is clear to me that no side in this unlikely threesome is willing to compromise.
In all the chaos and highly charged emotion rampant in Iraq, it is only a matter of time before a loose cannon like al-Baghdadi sets off the bomb that breaks the camel's back and ends any semblance of political cooperation in that part of the world. As the rage of Iran or Turkey scream down upon Iraq, devouring its borders, peace may finally come to this divided country. But it will be the iron-fisted "peace" of a new Saddam.
Labels: invade Iran, Islamic State of Iraq, Kurd, Shiite, Sunni, Turkey
