Posted on 02/04/2007 10:12:20 PM PST by neverdem
Al Qaeda had hoped to rally the entire Muslim world against the West, but now it is in the middle of a dirty sectarian war within Islam.
For those in the West asking when Islam will have its Reformation, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the process appears to have begun. The bad news is it's been marked by calumny, hatred and bloody violence. In this way it mirrors the Reformation itself, which we now remember in a highly sanitized way. During that era, Christians of differing sects massacred each other as they fought to own the true interpretation of their religion. No analogy is exact, but something similar seems to be happening within Islam. Here the divide is between the Sunnis, who make up 85 percent of the Muslim world, and the Shiites, who represent most of the other 15 percent.
The dominant new reality in the Middle East today is the growing schism between these two groups. Look at the daily sectarian killings in Iraq, listen to the dark warnings of Saudi and Jordanian leaders about a "Shia crescent," watch the power struggles in Lebanon. Islam's quiet cleavage has come out into the open. At a recent demonstration in the Palestinian territories, opponents of Hamas taunted the Sunni Islamists as "Shiites" because of their links to Iranian-backed Hizbullah.
We in the United States have spent much time asking what all this means for Iraq, for U.S. troops in the midst of this free-for-all and for America more generally. But think, for a moment, about what the trend means for Al Qaeda.
Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, both Sunnis, created Al Qaeda to be a Pan-Islamic organization, uniting all Muslims as it battled the West, Israel and Western-allied regimes like Saudi Arabia...
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Will you say that when a barrel of oil costs $100.
yep. At 100/bbl oil we will have cellulosic ethanol and coal-to-oil conversion within 2 years. Over 2 years my extra fuel bill [direct and indirect] would amount to a few grand- say, 5K. [and it could be lower, as to finance their reciprocal extermination, they'd have to open the spigots]. Moderate price to pay, IMHO.
he says that the USA should take the highroad..F off...doesn't matter what tone we take...we're "satan"...kill em all!
Evidence, please? Where are the enzymes or bacteria for cellulosic ethanol or biodiesel in commercial quantities and prices. IIRC, shale oil was supposed to be viable at $70 per barrel, and Alberta's tar sands was similarly priced. CL, NYMEX is the symbol according to Yahoo. I'm unable to link it or print the graph using their URL:
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/CO/W
They were already building pilot plants - at $70/bbl oil. At sustained $100/bbl they will no longer be pilot scale.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.