I'm Right Again Dot Com
A New Commentary Each Wednesday July 2, 2014
GOD IS ON OUR SIDE
Whether we humans happen to be a Buddhist, a follower of Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Judaism, Jainism, Islam, Shinto, Sikh, Taoism, or a mixture of all of the above, each denomination/sect believes that God is on its side. You may wish to use this page as a Directory to see who enjoys oppressing, mistreating, torturing, and killing adherents of another religion the most.
German soldiers in the first World War wore belt buckles, emblazoned with the words, "Gott mit uns (God is with us)." Even Adolph Hitler played to the Aryan belief in the master race by dropping the name of the Diety upon occasion—when he wasn't slaughtering Jews, Anti-Nazi Christians and others who opposed his insane beliefs. He did play up to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem when it benefitted him.
Most Japanese once had a unique take on this religion thing. They believed, and some may still do, that the emperor was divine—by inheritance. This was so deeply ingrained in Nippon, that President Truman took special care that Hirohito's palace not be bombed, and he and MacArthur refused to indict the "Rising Son" for being the war criminal he certainly was—for fear that everyone in the island chain would be willing to die for him, rather than surrender.
For hundreds of years, the Catholic Irish and the Protestants in three British-controlled counties on the Emerald Isle murdered each other with little restraint. Some residue of the enmity between the Irish Republic Army and the Orange Boys of Belfast remains.
These thoughts were brought to mind by the latest chaotic eruption in the middle east that had its beginnings 700 years ago over who was ordained by Allah to head the Islamic jihad, once Mohammed had, according to their belief, ridden his horse up into Paradise. The Sunnis, who comprise 85-90 percent of Islam, believe that Mohammed was the Last Prophet, period. The Shiites contend that the son-in-law of Mohammed's son-in-law (?) are the proper successors. That succession plan is pretty weird in itself.
Please don't ask me where this leads, but Shiites are vastly outnumbered, comprising only 10 to 15 percent of the faith. This feckless, unwinnable argument between the two major branches of Islam is the reason for seizing power and willingness to slaughter those with a difference of opinion as regards who Allah prefers—that plays into an insatiable lust for power by both sects.
The United States has entered into this insanity by (this week) choosing to support the Shiite politicos in Iraq (sort-of), the Sunni Saudi Arabians (moderately) and the Sunni King of Jordon (enormously).
We would very much like to see Assad, the Syrian monster, replaced before he kills all of his people. He is an Alawite, a third sect, a small one, under the general Muslim umbrella. Assad has been opposed by Syrian rebels, who until this year, were a hand-to-mouth organization with insufficient exterior support.
The most effective anti-Assad fighters are ardent adherents of an al-Queda offshoot. Like the Taliban, they desire to re-install Sharia law throughout the area.
This militant group of trained jihadists call themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). They are made up of former Iraqi military and radical muslims, all Sunni, from a number of countries. ISIL now controls vast areas of eastern Syria and a third of Iraq. They pretty well control the border region of the two countries and have been advancing almost unimpeded upon Baghdad.
The "Levant" was once a Muslim caliphate that included much of what is modern Syria and Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iran has the Republican Guard and Hezbollah irregulars, no longer "on the bench," to borrow an American sports simile. The United States dislikes both Syrian and Iranian regimes right now—but things might change any minute. So, Iran is playing all sides, and is in the best position to do so.
If one is serious about keeping score, you need a scorecard and a pencil with a durable eraser.
Our present administration is closest to supporting Egypt and Turkey because the present governments of those two major Muslim countries are currently against the extremist Muslim Brotherhood. This could change overnight—as occurred in Egypt twice recently and in a democratic election in Turkey in the past decade. That country elected a Muslim administration after 75 of non-sectarian rule.
We attempted to embrace the Sunni's in Iraq during the "surge," and now we're providing advisors and airpower to al-Maliki (Iraqi Shiite president) to help kill them. Somehow, it reminds us of the machiavellian mechanizations that went on in Italy during the Renaissance.
I suggest that all combatants be required to wear identifying armbands or at least badges, so they won't be killed by their friends.
I firmly believe that Israel has been the homeland of the Jews for uncounted centuries, and they have the right to exist there, even if they are more than recalcitrant with their Muslim neighbors regarding the expansion of the Jewish State by building new apartments with abandon on lands the Palestinians have considered theirs - at least since World War I. Remember, "Lawrence of Arabia, when the British adventurer led the Arabs in casting off Ottoman (Turkish) rule?
The leading questions regarding Israel are: how much support is enough and is it possible to work out a solution with the Palestinians? I am pessimistic. Especially when Hamas and Hezbolla refer to the western powers as "Crusaders."
Our adventures with the Oil-ism religion of the region have been devastating. It has cost us the flower of our youth and bankrupted our nation. The only real winners are Dick Cheney's Halliburton Corp and elements of the U.S. military-industrial complex.
-Phil Richardson, Observer and Storyteller
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