Tough Choices ahead for the Iraqi Arab Sunnis

The semi-traitorous Iraqi Arab Sunnis has two tough choices ahead. Now that they don’t have their favorite dictator running the show in Iraq, should they put their trust and future in the hands of the imbecile foreign Jihadist from the ISIS/ISIL or to their still semi-functional but deeply incompetent government of al-Maliki?

I’m reading news today that the Sunnis are having second thoughts about their initial enthusiasm and show of support for the ISIS terrorist.

The Sunni Muslims in Iraq who welcomed the militant group in early June. They all share the goal of overthrowing Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his sectarian rule, but the more secular parts of the Sunni coalition didn't sign up for an Islamic state.

"By announcing the caliphate, they are picking a fight with everybody," says David Kilcullen, a guerrilla warfare expert and former chief counter-terrorism strategist for the U.S. State Department.

"No, no, there is nothing like that in Mosul," insists a former Iraqi military officer when reached by phone. He dismisses the caliphate with a snort, because, he says, "the other groups object." The former officer says he fears retribution from the Maliki government and didn't want his name published. He says he is part of the Sunni alliance in Mosul that originally welcomed the Islamic State. Now, he has some doubts. "We will soon name one of our people to be the boss in Mosul," he says. "There is no caliphate here."

The self-declared caliphate had immediate detractors. Rival groups fighting in Syria were the first to speak against the caliphate. IS has already hijacked the Syrian revolt, turning a citizen's rebellion into a terrorist war.

"In Iraq, 99 percent of the Sunni Arabs don't want to live under a caliphate," says Ali Khedery. "Iraqis like to drink, dance, and smoke. They don't want to be ruled by Chechens and Afghans and live under 7th-century standards,"

I think it’s wise of the Iraqi Sunnis to wise up. Iraq has a rich diversity, cultural, historical, social and scientific tradition that is very unique to the Iraqi. While everyone always assume Iraq is a Shia Holy Land but Iraq is also the birthplace and learning center of Sunnism and many other Islamic sects. This is the place where people were actually promoting the thinking of Islam and not merely parroting what they heard someone else said who heard from someone else who probably didn’t hear from anyone. Can the Sunnis of Iraq support the barbaric mentality of the ISIS foreigners who would destroy Iraq’s culture heritage and society if/when they come to power? Just because someone claims to share your religion, should we be stupid enough to assume that they also have your best interest at heart?

Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, has not been very successful at countering the rebels. He blamed his failure on the sectarian nature of the Iraqi society and some of the neighboring countries for supporting the rebels. I think it’s tough to be in al-Maliki shoes. He’s supposed to make diplomacy work in a crazy country like Iraq ….

Reference
[1] http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/07/03/328145985/have-the-islamist-militants-overreached-in-iraq-and-syria