Winning Sunni Hearts and Minds

Why it seems like just yesterday that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice made a heavily guarded visit to Baghdad to encourage Sunni cooperation in the recent elections. That's the kind of personal diplomacy that one might expect to have an impact on the situation in Iraq. The Sunnis have felt threatened and disenfranchised since they lost power when Saddam fell. Personal attention from a high ranking American official could affect their thinking.

As could a personal visit to one of their mosques by U.S. troops, blowing doors off their hinges, ransacking offices and detaining five people, all this according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.

And not just any old mosque, no siree ! This would be the Umm Al-Qura mosque, home of the Association of Muslim Scholars, a leading Sunni group noted for its opposition to the U.S. occupation.

Reuters tv pictures showed spent shotgun shells and explosive devices left in the wake of the raid. They also showed what appeared to be Christian crosses scrawled on cupboards used to store worshippers shoes. An Army spokesman termed "unbelieveable" the accusation that U.S. troops might have done the scrawling.

The Muslim Scholars are not having such a tough time believing it and also suspect that the raid may be linked to their opposition to the occupation and express desire for us to leave.

You can believe anything you want, just

Stay Naked.