Iraqi Election

Fire of Liberty

I watched Hardball on MSNBC last night and I'm perplexed with Matthews continued infatuation with the divisions between the Kurds, Shi'a, and Sunni. Matthews and his guests never point out that the Iraqi population is more homogeneous than the divisions. Some Kurds are also Shi'a as well as Sunni Muslims. Even more, the Sunnis of the the Central to Northern parts of Iraq generally have a cousin, aunt or uncle that is a Shia and lives in the South. While these groups might be able to be grouped into these sectarian or ethnic groupings on paper and the MSM, they fail to play out in the real world.

Such details about the reality on the ground in Iraq can be found in the writings of Amir Taheri. Along with Taheri, Professor Walid Phares also provides a considerable amount of insight into the whole affair. He seems to provide a breath of fresh air into the study of Middle Eastern Studies, which generally sees the Muslim World as the victim. Yet another astute observer of the situation in Iraq is Michael Rubin, who served as an advisor for the CPA in Iraq during Bremer's time in Iraq. Along with this work, Rubin also is a resident scholar at AEI and is the editor of Middle East Quarterly.