Analysis: Is Iraq's Sunni-Shiite Conflict Really About Religion?

[rug]

First published July 6th 2014, 8:49 am
By Jim Maceda
News Analysis

As shocking as the video clips of Sunni militants mowing down Shiites in Iraq with AK-47s and then handing out Qurans can be, the barbarity is not new nor unique to the Muslim world.

This extreme violence that is gripping Iraq is largely being cast as a religious war – in this case pitting Sunni against Shiite Muslim extremists. But if history is any indication, painting it as a bloody crisis of Islam misses the point.

Militants under the black banner of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) proclaim they are fighting in the name of Allah. Their stated cause – to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state – only reinforces the sense of a battle royal between two brands of a single religion. But, through the centuries and continents, from Europe to the Middle East and beyond, religious conflicts evolved into battles over power and politics – much like in Iraq today, where ISIS has claimed the mantle of Islam’s only defender.

"Europe and other regions have witnessed similar turbulent moments," said Fawaz Gerges, Director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics. "The formation of Europe, for example, was the result of centuries of devastating religious war."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/analysis-iraqs-sunni-shiite-conflict-really-about-religion-n148341

[Rod Beauvex]

1. Religion is just an excuse. Few in any sort of significant position of power truely believe.

Disparate groups don't want peace. They want control, they want a hedonistic lifestyle, and they want all the other disparate groups dead. Middle East. Soviet Bloc. Europe. Latin America. Even in the US. It's what these people want.

[pinto]

2. Interesting piece. Religion (who are the true successors of Mohammed?) certainly plays a key role.

And the religious split informs the political split, imo. As well as regional political influences which loom large in the background. All that and take into account the "artificial" construct of ME states by European states after WWI. It's obviously a deadly mix being played out.

[xfundy]

4. Religion and politics are rarely separate.

Whether it's "my god is bigger than yours" or "you will burn in hell for being wrong," it ultimately comes down to Coke vs Pepsi.

[edhopper]

6. Yes

in the sense that religion is an organization which people feel a deep belonging to.
It may be more of a political struggle than one about beliefs, but it's the opponents religion which figures in the fight.

[Jim__]

7. Given ISIS 5 year plan for global domination, we may well find out.

Link to story.



Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc, are included in those plans. I'm sure the the Sunni governments of those countries don't plan to surrender to ISIS. If ISIS manages to actually attack these countries, we'll see if the Sunni populations accept them. My guess is they won't, and if ISIS gets powerful, we'll see some alliances between Sunni and Shia countries.

[rug]

8. Their map has as much political reality as the map of Middle Earth.

[Lordquinton]

9. Yes, it's about religion

because they believe it is.

Religion is like a naughty child, when it does something good it's "Our religion" when it does something bad it's "their religion"

[rug]

10. Pat, predigested, generalized statements about religion really adds nothing to geoploitical reality.

In fact, it probably subtracts from it.