Mideast mayhem; the Islamic Civil War.......

I have been trying to make sense of the Middle East mayhem

 

Am I alone in believing that for all the blood and treasure expended in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the real conflict is not the so-called ‘War on Terror’. This is a diversion. There may be some madmen who believe that the world can be turned into a Caliphate, but the real conflict is much bigger and goes on largely unnoticed by the world.

 

What is happening – and has been for years – is a civil war within Islam.

 

It has been and will be bloody in the extreme.

 

It has been going on for at least 50 years.

 

Egypt suffered more casualties when it intervened in Yemen in the 1960’s than in the 6-Day War. The Iran-Iraq war in the 80’s resembled WW1, with horrendous casualties, maybe 1 million dead. Sunni, Shia and Taliban are killing each other on a daily basis in Pakistan, which is also ruthlessly suppressing an uprising in Baluchistan. Nigerian fundamentalists are causing mayhem in the Muslim north, killing both Muslims and Christians.

 

Since the 2^nd Gulf War 120,000 Iraqis have been killed, more than 500 only last week, Sunni against Shia, Iraqi against Kurd, tribe against tribe.

 

There have been civil wars in Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon and Mali. Syria is a blood-bath, with Sunni, Shia, and just about every other sect fighting each other. Assad has been very successful in turning the conflict from an uprising into something quite different, but it may well be the end of Syria as we know it. Lebanon, one of the cradles of civilisation and home to very intelligent and cultured people, had 15 years of everybody fighting everybody else and has been in a state of simmering conflict ever since. Libya seems to have settled into semi-anarchy. Somalia is a failed state that exports its own brand of Islamic terrorism to its neighbours plus piracy and kidnapping.

 

The old post-colonial boundaries are fracturing, with Syria and Iraq in particular fragmenting into warring parts.

 

‘What comes next?’ seems both unanswerable and unaskable.

 

Time was, before the Russian invasion, that Kabul was a sophisticated city with a culture stretching back to the Ancient Greeks, modern buildings, busy markets, women in Western dress. The Mujahidin ransacked the museums and flogged off the contents on the black-market. The Taliban destroyed that entire culture. The ultimate cultural atrocity was the destruction of the Great Buddha carvings of Bamiyan, more than 1000 years old.

 

How did all that advance the cause of Islam? It is totally nihilistic.

 

Now we have the fall-out from the ‘ARAB Spring’ to add to the noxious brew. This goes beyond Sunni vs. Shia, tribe against tribe, and stirs in class warfare, with the young, educated and unemployed bourgeoisie pitted against the Establishment, be it political or religious. This will be the scenario for many years to come, so we can safely ignore the pundits  and armchair strategists who are constantly writing articles entitled ‘Has the Arab Spring turned to Winter’ or some such garbage.

 

I have no doubt that ordinary Muslims want what everybody wants – education, employment, justice, honest government. The men with beards are equally determined that they will not get it.