Iraq, three years after U.S. withdrawal (things are not going well)

[Kosar_For_President]

^^^^Yep

[calfoxwc]

That's strange. My old friend, a chronic leftist style liberal philosopher type,

was in the Air Force back then, in Iraq for two years....and he told me that

we absolutely HAD to go into Iraq, but he was only in military intel, wouldn't

ever tell me why...

of course you guys know better...

[The Cysko Kid]

The difference between Sunni and Shiite boils down, as I understand, to one venerating only.direct blood.successors of.muhammed as religious leaders while the other believes those.that best represent Islam should be religious leaders. Kind of a really fucking stupid thing to kill each other over in such great numbers. Maybe osiris can give some more nuance to the rift

[gftChris]

@the-cysko-kid said:

The difference between Sunni and Shiite boils down, as I understand, to one venerating only.direct blood.successors of.muhammed as religious leaders while the other believes those.that best represent Islam should be religious leaders. Kind of a really fucking stupid thing to kill each other over in such great numbers. Maybe osiris can give some more nuance to the rift

When you're talking stupid things to kill each other over, how about protestant/catholic?

[The Cysko Kid]

Not really familiar with the protestant catholic rift. I'm not what you would call a religious person although I like all the pageantry of Catholicism.

[Westside Steve]

@gftchris said:

When you're talking stupid things to kill each other over, how about protestant/catholic?

Power and territory. Same as it ever was.

It's a lot easier if people are different colors or speak different languages. But rest assured we will find a reason to fight with each other.

WSS

[DieHardBrownsFan]

@gftchris said:

When you're talking stupid things to kill each other over, how about protestant/catholic?

In civilized countries like the USA, they don't kill each other.

[Osiris]

@the-cysko-kid said:

The difference between Sunni and Shiite boils down, as I understand, to one venerating only.direct blood.successors of.muhammed as religious leaders while the other believes those.that best represent Islam should be religious leaders. Kind of a really fucking stupid thing to kill each other over in such great numbers. Maybe osiris can give some more nuance to the rift

You're on the right track but it wasn't really just religious leadership, but political leadership. Whoever succeeded Muhammed was inheriting the reigns to a burgeoning empire. The faction that wanted a semi-democratic succession had nominated one of Muhammed's friends, while the opposing faction wanted a bloodline succession. As often happens in a sudden vacuum of power, the dispute led to a civil war in which the Sunni faction won.

I won't bore you with the cultural and epistomological differences between Sunni and Shiites, and for my part, I couldn't care less if someone is Sunni or Shiite. I agree that it's stupid to kill each other but I doubt the religious differences are the root of the problem. As WSS said, "power and territory, same as it ever was," though I'd add the word resources, too. Religious differences just make it easier for people to dehumanize their enemies so they can kill them.

[LogicIsForSquares]

@calfoxwc said:

That's strange. My old friend, a chronic leftist style liberal philosopher type,

was in the Air Force back then, in Iraq for two years....and he told me that

we absolutely HAD to go into Iraq, but he was only in military intel, wouldn't

ever tell me why...

of course you guys know better...

My step brother worked in military Intel and was in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said Afghanistan was worth it. Iraq not so much.

Not that either personal anecdote matters.

[calfoxwc]

Well, true. But knowing him, he was a liberal's liberal. Enlisted to keep away

from being drafted in the army.

He called me when he got back and I just asked him that question eventually.

I was surprised bigtime at his answer. Always a talker, he wouldn't say one word

about the "why".... he just insisted that we had to, and if the rest of America knew

why, they would agree. I couldn't get him to tell me anything, the turkey.

So, naturally, I asked him why we don't know...and he said he couldn't tell me that, either...

But I do know that our military found "mountains" of arms in large warehouses when they went in

in Iraq. hussein and sons were running a huge, huge arms dealing op to terrorists and hostile countries.