Self Explanatory

Let me say this about that.

Question:  What was the cause of the ‘Iran – Iraq War’?  The ‘Six-Day War’?  The ’1st Gulf War’?  The ’2nd Gulf War’?  The ‘Afghan War’?  The ‘Yom Kipper War’?

 Can you  – honestly, now – recite the reason for any of the dozens of wars that have been fought in the Middle East since Pope Urban II sponsored the Crusades in the year 1095?  A string of wars sponsored by the head of the Catholic church and thought to have the blessing of God because of a meteor shower and a lunar eclipse (author’s note: before you re-read, perhaps in disbelief, the previous sentence, please remember the ‘mantra’ of the ‘Let Me Say This About That’ blog:  “You can’t make this stuff up.”)

Truth be known, 99% of Americans REALLY…    don’t know diddly-squat about what is going on in the Middle East, or why the place is so violent.  Most Americans think ….  “Oh, it has something to do with oil”.  That may explain the primary reason why the Americans are engaged in war in the region, but it’s a damn-site short of the explanation of why wars have been fought there for centuries (before Columbus even discovered America or the invention of the gasoline engine), or why wars will continue to be fought there for centuries in the future – if not forever – even when the oil runs out.  So why is the Middle East such a madhouse of seemingly crazy people running around with AK-47′s, wearing dresses and face masks? 

The answer is they are deeply religious.

I have often been asked by friends, who are curious about my international travels, what religions are like in other parts of the world.  I always give them the same response ….. “If you want to know about any religion, study the history of war.”

Most, if not all, wars have their basis in a conflict of religious beliefs.  This is certainly the case in the Middle East.   Sure, the Christians, the Jews and the Muslims are not on each other’s ‘A-List’ for their next party and the differences in the beliefs of these three groups are far too deep to be settled by a simple game of ‘rock-paper-scissors’.  But the religious conflict goes further than that.  Even if all Christians and Jews left the area peacefully, the Middle East would continue to be consumed by war.  Why?  Because there is also a deep rift WITHIN the Islamic faith itself.  The rift is a result of the early history of the Muslim religion and it’s founder Mohammad.

The Muslim religion is made up of two factions – the Sunnis and the Shiites.  They don’t care for each other very much.  The simple explanation (simplification is always inadequate when discussing religion) for their ill-will lies in a power struggle for leadership of the Islamic faith after Mohammad’s death.  The Sunni believed one way and the Shiite believed another.  During the ensuing 1,000 years or so, their differences have become lethal.  A recent example is the Iran (Shiite dominated) – Iraq (Sunni dominated) War with 1,500,000 dead and wounded – all Muslims. 

So what?

That means …  if the differences between the Sunnis and Shiites have not been settled since Mohammad’s death in the year 632, it ain’t ever gonna be settled.  They each will continue to make their case for the leadership of Islam with violence against each other – forever.

So? 

I say let’m.

The wars in the Middle East will never end.  The peoples living in this region enjoy conflict – I’ve seen it personally.  They are not happy unless they are miserable.  If that is the way they want to live – more power to them. 

Our issue is America’s involvement.  How do we extricate ourselves from this mess?  It’s simple  …..  we leave.

“But what about the shortage of oil?”

My suggestion is we do the same thing we do when we experience a shortage of cocaine.  We stop using the stuff.  If Americans weren’t so goddamn lazy, we would develop energy sources that did not obstruct our economy with an addiction to oil.  We would have no reason to be in the Middle East, and the Muslims could go on happily fighting among themselves as they have done for eons.

“But what if we are attacked by Islamic terrorists again?”

If we left the region, chances are the Muslims will be too busy fighting themselves to worry about us.  If we have no presence in the Middle East, why would they bother?  If, for some reason there was another attack, we deport every Muslim without U.S. citizenship to Afghanistan, and declare a state of war against every nation whose government is controlled by the Islamic clerics.

After all, it is a religious war, just like it has been since the Crusades a thousand years ago.  You may not like it,  it may not be politically correct, but you have to call it what it is.

“But what if we retaliate for a terrorist act against us by bombing a Muslim dominated country and there are civilians killed?”

Oh, you mean like on 911?

And, that’s all I have to say about that.

Shambo