[G8 Diplomat]

Thank you for posting...Americans are so clueless about Middle East ethnicities and just assume they're all "Arabs." No, there are Persians, Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Circassians, Azerbaijanis, Baluchis, Copts, Assyrians, Phoenecians, Berbers, Chaldeans, and on and on. Even some on FR make this mistake. No, Iranians, Pakistanis, and Afghans are NOT Arabs. They're Indo-Europeans like you and me.

The Arabic word 'Iraq' means 'Veins'

I've heard tons of different theories on the etymology of the word 'Iraq.' Some say it comes from Uruk, some say it comes from the Persian word eraq, meaning lowlands, some say it means "mudbank" after the marshes in the south, and some say it comes from the Turkish word irak meaning "far away." I don't know if this is related, but the Arabic word 'araqa (meaning "sweat") comes from the same root as Iraq; 'ayn-ra-qaaf.

[G8 Diplomat]

Extinct Semitic languages include Assyrian, Phoenician, Aramaic and others.

Actually Aramaic is still spoken in the Syrian town of Malula by Syrian Christians. Syriac still exists too and is the liturgical language of the Maronite Catholic Church. Also Mahri (also Semitic), a South Arabian language, is still spoken by some in eastern Yemen and western Oman.

[repubpub]

“Thank you for posting...Americans are so clueless about Middle East ethnicities and just assume they’re all “Arabs.”

Well there you go, assuming all Americans are clueless about the Middle East. Maybe you’re clueless about what American’s really think?

[mamelukesabre]

Their culture also is suffering from the same european-ish problem of failing to reproduce.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fertility_rate_world_map_2.png

[lt.america]

This has been pointed out several hundred times before this article, but it boils down to how is the fact that Iranians are Persian seperates them from general Arab politics and mentality? Short answer is it does not, and in fact they are more radical than Iraq today. They are an Islamic Republic and they act as you would expect, often times more juvenile, an Islamic Republic would act.

Good article, means nothing.

[Cyber Liberty]

Americans are so clueless about Middle East ethnicities and just assume they're all "Arabs."

That's a pretty broad brush you have there, punk.