Sunni and Shia- There's a difference?

Jeff Stein's article in the New York Times this past week recounting his experience in asking political and intelligence leaders whether they knew the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims was enlightening. Although he acknowledged that many people did, he also found that people in key positions did not. His observation that it is hard to imagine making sensible judgements at the policy level without that information is hard to argue with. Some commentators have tended to minimize the difference by alluding to it as like the difference between Catholics and Lutherans. The apt retort might be that it would have been similar in the war years shortly after Martin Luther pounded his principles in to the cathedral door. Catholics and Lutherans today don't kill each other. Nor segregate their communities based on their religion. The fact that Shia and Sunni believers do is stark testimony as to why it is very important to understand. Along with the larger understanding that Iran is largely Shia and Syria and Saudi Arabia are largely Sunni. These are facts which were being discussed, in some quarters, when our political leaders decided to launch this war. And they are facts which have affected our conduct of the war. A similar example of 'failure to consider facts' exists in Afghanistan where our failure to curb warlords in exchange for their "support" of the government in Kabul has led to a resurgence of the opium trade and an infirm central government.

We need leaders who have a serious curiousity to understand everything that might affect the success of our foreign policy and the lives of our soldiers