RSS SPIRIT

We keep living, precariously, to honor our God.




I know the Iraqi Shiites do not get a lot of love lately. There is that whole bloody self-flagellation thing, and no beer. But I feel they have not been fully appreciated as a category of people. We might want to take a moment to appreciate them more fully as we have made a substantial investment in their future country.

First thing we should remember, for a long time the Iraqi Shiites have been rotting in god-forsaken urban slums getting ill treated by the Baathists. In this way they are like the Catholics in Belfast, or indigenous South Africans in Soweto. They are deep roots people – they possess that proud indifference to death of those who wage intergenerational battle against oppression.

Take Moqtada Sadr for example. He is a relatively young leader, his dad was a famous cleric. He is a born ghetto politician who plays his politics 'balls to the walls.' He would have made a powerful alderman in Chicago. He understands both the politics of the street and the mosque mat.

Of course he denounces America. We Americans should not feel bad about that. Let us just accept that he expresses the dominant mood of his followers. For better or worse American troops stay in Iraq to ensure the increased prosperity of Shiite theocrat ghetto political parties run by men like Sadr. It does seem odd that this administration would get in bed with these folks, but there it is.

So we Americans should give a little more love to our newest strategic political and trade partners. Odd bedfellows to be sure, but if viewed in the right light, our new allies will seem not unfamiliar to most of us.

Juan Cole, an indispensable resource for understanding events in Iraq, has been quoting from the Koran lately. As patriotic Americans trying to reach out to new partners we should take a few minutes to read from Islamic scripture as a show of good faith. For together we are walking, hand in hand, toward our shared future (hopefully prosperous.)

###