Imagine trying to understand the peace process in Ireland without understanding that the Irish are predominately Catholic, the Northern Irish are predominately protestant, and that England’s sympathies tend mainly to their protestant brethren?
Imagine suggesting that the city of Boston was sending financial and material support to the protestants, or that MI5 and MI6 were providing targeting information to the Catholics?
That is akin to what John McCain has repeatedly asserted in saying that Iran is lending support to al-Qaeda. It’s isn’t some misstatement. It is either deliberate misinformation or a staggering display of ignorance that should disqualify him from consideration as commander in chief.
Iran is the largest Shi’a majority country in the world, and the only country (other than Azerbaijan) where the Shi’a have been historically treated with respect. Al-Qaeda, and al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia (AQI), are militantly anti-Shi’a groups. Much of AQI’s terrorism has been aimed at Shi’a religious pilgrims and Holy Sites. Their entire base of support in Iraq is built around Sunni opposition to the American-aligned Shi’a dominated government.
Iran has been trying to export their Shi’a Revolution to the larger Arab world ever since the 1979 revolution. Iran’s support was instrumental in building up Lebanon’s Hizbollah (Party of God) on the northern border of Israel. Hizbollah is a Shi’a organization that opposes the traditional domination of Lebanese society by Sunni and Christian Arabs.
The only support that Iran is known to give to militant Sunni organizations is to Hamas. And Hamas is a Palestinian liberation organization that grew up in opposition (originally with tacit support from Israel) to the secular official Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Iran supports Hamas because it is religious and because there are so few Shi’a Palestinians and because it gives Iran street cred to assist the fight against Israeli occupation. Outside of Israel/Palestine, the Iranians do not support Sunni groups. They certainly do not support militantly anti-Shi’a organizations in Iraq that are targeting their Holy Sites and religious pilgrims.
John McCain ought to know this stuff like the back of his hand. He has chaired the Armed Services Committee and received countless intelligence briefings. The fact that he does not seem to know it is appalling.
In fairness, the Democratic Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, displayed a similarly shocking and appalling lack of knowledge about the differences between Sunnis and Shi’ites last year. It’s totally unacceptable to have people of either party in positions of national security responsibility that do not know the religious motivations and makeup of the Middle East. But in an audition for the presidency, such ignorance should be fatal. It certainly should not be excused.
