Americans seemed to insufficiently aware of what has happened, the President and his staff, especially.
We may have passed a point where a functioning democracy in
Iraq is impossible and a civil war is inevitable.
The current violence in Iraq is extensive, and it is not directed against American Soldiers. The battle is between Sunnis and Shias. And the cause of this battle was the destruction of the Mosque of the Golden Dome. That event may be the event that historians pinpoint as the moment that America lost the war.
A brief history of Islam is necessary. Islam was founded by the Prophet Mohammad and was quickly spread through conquest and empire (caliphate.) After he died, his descendents ruled the empire. The disagreement between the Sunnis and Shias in a nutshell is between which descendents should rule. The Shias followed only the first 11 Imams. They believe the 12th Imam was hidden by Allah and that the following Imams were illegitimate. The Sunnis followed these leaders, hence the schism in Islam. The Shias’ version of the apocalypse is that the 12th Imam will return and restore the empire.
The Golden Dome’s role is this drama is that it is the place where the 12th Imam will make his glorious return. That ancient structure is where the Shias believed the beginning of the birth of a world of true believers would begin. Now, that place is gone.
In the bad old days of Ireland’s troubles, the Catholics battled the Protestants and there was terror on both sides. Assume for a moment that an Irish Protestant drove a truck full of explosives into the Vatican and turned it into rubble. The battle in Ireland would rage as Catholics exacted their revenge. This would have been bloody beyond belief, and no one would expect a peace process to work.
That scenario pales in comparison to the destruction of the Golden Mosque. The Vatican is a Holy city, but it has direct role in the Christian idea of the Apocalypse. The Golden Mosque is a building that has to be standing when the end comes. Destroying it was a blow to that religions center of gravity. The reaction is inevitable. There will only be schism and blood shed in the Iraq of the future.
So let us accept that we have failed to meet our objective: a unified and democratic Iraq. What are our new objectives? How long do we leave troops in a country descending into civil war? These are the defining questions of this moment in time. The President seems to think otherwise.
# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 3:38 AM
