The Party of God

In a lecture at a recent symposium held in Jerusalem by The Israel Project(www.theisraelproject.org) entitled "Hamas, Hizbollah and Iran," Mordechi Kedar of Bar-Ilan University suggested that current events in the Middle East and around the world can be understood as the outcome of an intense, vicious competition between Shia and Sunni Islam. It should be noted that although all Muslims regard Western non-Muslims as "infidels" (kaffurs), in another sense the two main sects of Islam regard each other as much more dangerous enemies. It is apparently quite customary for them to refer to each other as "filth" and other unpleasant epithets. Dr. Kedar explains the current attacks on the West not only intrinsically, but as a means of scoring points against each other.
The growth of this process can be dated initially from the Iranian Revolution of 1979, that occured during the Administration of Pres. Carter. Once Shia Islam had taken over the Government of Iran, a conflict with Sunni Islam became inevitable. The first stage in this process was the war between Iran and Iraq that lasted from 1980-1988. Since this practically exhausted both sides it took years for both of them to recover and it set the expansion of the Iranian revolution back for some time.
It should be noted that Hizb-Allah actually means "The Party of God," that is a quote from the Koran, meaning that whoever constitutes the party favored by God will inevitably win. By calling their Shia proxy in Lebanon Hizbollah, the Shia Iranians are telling the world and most particularly the Sunnis, that they will end up victorious.
There is no Sunni regime comparable to the Shia regime in Iran. All the current so-called Sunni regimes are compromised by being modernized or cooperative with the West. This particularly includes Saudi Arabia, which is an open ally of the US. It was this fact that drove Osama bin Laden not only to declare war on the West but also on the Saudi regime. The only comparable Sunni religiously controlled Government to Shia Iran was that of the Taliban in Afghanistan, which also supported the training and export of Sunni al Qaeda terrorism. But, that regime was defeated by the Americans after the attack of 9/11.
In the competition of Shia and Sunnis in scoring points, the West is a favorite target. It is in this respect that the 9/11 attack of 2001 in the US and the 7/7 attack of 2004 in London, as well as the myriad attacks around the world, can be understood. They were a Sunni response to the success of the Iranian revolution. While Iran focuses on hegemony in the Middle East, including exporting its revolution thru Syria to Lebanon and the PA, al Qaeda and the Sunni terrorists have focussed on hitting the West.
But, there is an anomaly here, namely that the Palestinians are Sunni, so why are they allied with Iran. The simple answer is money and hatred of Israel. One of the aims of the current Ahmedinejad Government in Iran is the elimination of Israel, and how to do this better than to support both Hizbollah and the Palestinians with large sums of money and training. The leadership of Hamas assumed that if they became the Government of the PA they would receive the large sums of money that had been flowing from the EU and US into the PA under Arafat. But, they have been surprised by the solidarity of the West in refusing to give money to them. Also, the other Sunni states have largely followed this lead and have cut off funding. Iran has stepped into the breach, and last year spent m$220 in supporting Hamas in Gaza. They also have programs underway in the West Bank, and are currently trying to co-opt the al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, that were started by Fatah, but that are now virtually independent and more extreme. In that way, Iran hopes to bring about a three front war against Israel, from Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank, supported by their own forces from Iran. Rockets will play a large role in this intended war of extirmination, as they did in the Second Lebanon War of 2006. Of course, Iran also hopes to have its own atomic tipped missiles with which to threaten and attack Israel in due course.
Nowhere is the competition between Shia and Sunni Islam more violent than in Iraq. Civilian casualties are now running at ca. 30 a day! If you wonder why they kill each other with such abandon, it is there that the sectarian divide has become open conflict. It would be best if the US forces got out of the way and, as in the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88, let them get on with it, since nothing can now stop that war. Is is based on the Koran, whoever wins it will then be known as the party that God (Allah) favors.