Iraqi people

Submitted by Jerry Krasnow (United States), Apr 3, 2006 at 07:20

Daniel Pipes is half right when he says that the Iraqi people lack gratitude to the USA for having gottten rid of Saddam and that a minority is waging war on the USA. The error is in the phrase "Iraqi people." Clearly there are some who identify themselves as Iraqi, but many who primarily identify themselves as Sunni or Shiite, or Kurds.

It is the conflict between this tribal/religious identification verses joining together in a nation state of Iraq that is the core of the current problem.

Yes we toppled the dictator who maintained Iraq by having one sect dominate the others, using terror. That is over, now the whole country faces anarchy without a strong army to control the thugs and murderers that run rampant.

Yes we won a war, and exposed a festering pool of hate. Although the ballot box indicates a desire for democratic rule, many totalitarian despots seek to use the worst in their religion to justify their imposing a new order that will repress their country. The real war, as Pipe's has pointed out previously, is between a religion that seeks to impose its will on the world and a world that requires tolerance to allow all religions to exists side by side. It is facism verses freedom.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".