Only racists know the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims

Yesterday, Jeff Stein's New York Times op-ed criticized the good men and women of Congress and the FBI for being unable to distinguish between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

The chief of the FBI's new national security branch explains the difference thusly: "The basics goes back to their beliefs and who they were following. And the conflicts between the Sunnis and the Shia and the difference between who they were following." Sounds good to me. The Chief thought that Iran and Hezbolla were Sunni. Turns out they're not. Big deal! So sue him!

Alabama Republican Congressman Terry Everett, who is vice chairman of the House intelligence subcommittee on technical and tactical intelligence, says the difference between the two groups is "One's in one location, another's in another location. No, to be honest with you, I don't know. I thought it was differences in their religion, different families or something."

Jo Ann Davis, a Virginia Republican who heads a House intelligence subcommittee charged with overseeing the C.I.A.'s performance in recruiting Islamic spies and analyzing information, doesn't really know the difference but acknowledges, "You know, I should." Like a true American patriot, she goes with her gut and tries to define the difference anyway: "It's a difference in their fundamental religious beliefs. The Sunni are more radical than the Shia. Or vice versa. But I think it's the Sunnis who're more radical than the Shia."

Jeff Stein is just showing off how much he knows about the boring and irrelevant minutiae of the Muslim world. From the looks of his last name, I'd say he has an unfair advantage. He obviously hails from the desert originally and thus comes from a people who used to run into Shiites and Sunnis. I assume.

The more important point, however, is that these FBI agents and Republican members of Congress should be commended for ignoring the difference between Sunnis and Shiites. They refuse to buy into the ancient rivalry which violently divides Muslims today. These officials are ethnic-blind. I should know because I myself am color blind. When Stephen Colbert and I see a person, we don't see black or white, hispanic or other. We see AMERICAN. (This, of course, is why affirmative action is RACIST.)

Similarly, when real Americans look at a person who lives over there in the Middle East, they don't see Shiite or Sunni. They see an Arab/ Muslim/ Islamic person who speaks a language we can't understand and overreacts to cartoons and stuff. Perhaps the best example of an ethnic-blind American patriot is Trent Lott. If you look past his pro-segregation/Strom Thurmond stance , which liberals never do (get over it!), you see he's one of the most color blind people out there. And here's what he has to say about the Sunni/Shiite hoopla: "It's hard for Americans, all of us, including me, to understand what's wrong with these people. Why do they hate each other? Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me."

I thought LWWB's (Left-Wing Wing-Bats) like Jeff Stein and the New York Times would like this since they're all into equal rights and stuff. But I guess
not. I guess the old saying is true: "Scratch a liberal, and you'll find an ethnicist." Shame on you, Jeff Stein and New York Times. And congratulations FBI, members of Congress, and especially Trent Lott for being real Americans who judge a man not by the color of his skin or the prophet he follows, but by whether he's with us or against us in the war on terror! Thank you for realizing Martin Luther King's dream.