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2006-10-17 Terror Networks
NYT: Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?
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Posted by .com 2006-10-17 14:25|| || Front Page|| [11135 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 A more important question is, can the NYT tell its ass from a hole in the ground?

(That would be a resounding NO for all you trolls out there; the rest of us already know the answer.)
Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut  2006-10-17 14:36|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]  2006-10-17 14:36|| Front Page Top

#2 I nice comeback for our intrepid asshat reporter would be:

Which of the two wear both black and white turbans? What does it signify?

I notice he didn't ask the Frustrated Savior of the World, Dickie Clark. Ol' Dickie can tell with a glance which are which. The Sunnis have that crazed-killer look. The Shia look shifty and no-account.
Posted by .com 2006-10-17 15:06||   2006-10-17 15:06|| Front Page Top

#3 Better to know the difference between the Hindus and Sikhs and the targets.
Posted by Groter Cletle5455 2006-10-17 15:13||   2006-10-17 15:13|| Front Page Top

#4 Yep, f*ck the NYT & their editorial page. However, I always do give credit where it's due, even to assholes I despise like most msm journo-weenies. We are in a war and our reps, intel bubbas, and law dogs better damn well start educating themselves on the divisions in Iraq and how it affects us. Especially basic shit like is Iraq a majority sunni or shiite country. Heck, we've only been there over three years now, you figured some of these jokers could take 10 min's and figure out why the klingers are shooting each other up and whose buttering their bread.

I'll take islamic history 101 for a $100 Alex.

BTW - I think Jon Stewart is sometimes funny but is usually an oversimplifying ass-clown. Unfortunately a lot of our idiots in congress give him a target rich environment in which to work.
Posted by Broadhead6 2006-10-17 15:16||   2006-10-17 15:16|| Front Page Top

#5 Nice how he leaves out anyone who answered the question correctly. Journalism just how I expect it.
Posted by gromky 2006-10-17 15:18||   2006-10-17 15:18|| Front Page Top

#6 During the first Gulf War there was an interesting cartoon about telling the difference between Shiite and Shinola. Still applies
Posted by RWV 2006-10-17 15:23||   2006-10-17 15:23|| Front Page Top

#7 Unfortunately some of the folks in government service who do know the difference lack the imagination to see that Sunni and Shia can sometimes cooperate on terrorism just as secular dictators can sponsor religious terrorism. They also seem to have difficulty appreciating the impact of ethnicity (Kurd, Arab, Persian, etc) and its interplay with religious differences. Then, after 20+ years of confusing themselves, eachother and the elected officials they advise, they leak self-serving, inaccurate classified information, sign a book contract and retire to the chat show and lecture circuit.

In some ways we're better off with the officials who, lacking a nuanced understanding, just see enemies of the country and therefore targets.

Just my 2 cents.
Posted by JAB 2006-10-17 15:35||   2006-10-17 15:35|| Front Page Top

#8 The Sunnis have that crazed-killer look. The Shia look shifty and no-account.

Oh. Then Sandy Burglar must be Shia.
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-10-17 15:53||   2006-10-17 15:53|| Front Page Top

#9 The two of them remind me a a setion of the Return of the King book (omitted in the movie) where Frodo and Sam are in Mordor and find a couple of Orcs tracking them - bickering and fighting among themselves until the little one takes off and the larger one follows. Sam mentioned that the Orcs seem to love fighting among themselves and Frodo points out that if they had known they (hobbits) were there they would have droped any hatred and fighting until they (hobbits) were dead "For they hate us far more then they hate each other...".

Of course the NYT probably couldn't tell the different between an Orc, Man, Dwarf, or Elf since 'all cultures are the same'....
Posted by CrazyFool 2006-10-17 17:02||   2006-10-17 17:02|| Front Page Top

#10 The Shiite is the one with the Sunni hands around his neck, and the Sunni is the one with the Shiite hands around his neck.
Posted by gorb 2006-10-17 17:12||   2006-10-17 17:12|| Front Page Top

#11 Careerists that got their positons under Clinton due to connection and got promoted due to ass covering.

Thats why we have "policy makeers' at the top of the intel food chain that are abosulte f*ckwits and why product is so damn poor - being mealymouthed instead of direct is an asset for them even though its detrimental to the naiton (c.f. Department of State for similar behavior of being repeatedly wrong and rewarded for it)

Posted by Oldspook 2006-10-17 19:13||   2006-10-17 19:13|| Front Page Top

#12 “Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?”

The Sunnis are the ones waving around those cool looking scimitars...
Posted by Raj 2006-10-17 19:52||   2006-10-17 19:52|| Front Page Top

#13 And the Shia are the ones swinging around those self-flagellation chains.
Posted by Oldspook 2006-10-17 20:09||   2006-10-17 20:09|| Front Page Top

#14 And the Americans are the ones that whip out a pistol and simply shoot the scimitar waving idiot.
Posted by Indiana Jones 2006-10-17 20:11||   2006-10-17 20:11|| Front Page Top

#15 The difference between Sunnis and Shiites is that in some places Sunnis mistreat and kill Shiites, while in other places the reverse is true.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2006-10-17 20:35||   2006-10-17 20:35|| Front Page Top

#16 Seriously, our counterterrorism efforts could be much improved. The following quote is from a blog entry written by a GI's significant other about his training prior to be sent to Afghanistan.
When S went to Ft. Hood for his "train-up" in December {2004}, he was "briefed" after a month of non-training (he and his Ranger buddies worked out on their own; the national guard leadership had no interest in anything other than eating chicken at Popeye's) by a soldier who had just returned from Iraq. When S and his friend questioned this, asking why they weren't being briefed by a soldier who had served in Afghanistan, the briefer said "What's the difference? They're all in the Middle East." S pointed out that no, Afghanistan isn't in the Middle East, it's in Asia, and then the briefer said incredulously, "Well they're all Arabs, aren't they?!" No surprise, then, that S was the only soldier in his entire group who had studied any Dari at all. In fact, he was the only one who knew Afghans spoke Dari, not Farsi, not Arabic. He was stuck in Ft. Hood for nearly two agonizing months.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2006-10-17 20:41||   2006-10-17 20:41|| Front Page Top

#17 NYT Jeff Stein

“Do you know the differences between a Sunni and a Shiite?”

[how i would answer]

Sunnis use dull knives when cutting an infidels throat.

Shiites are partial to Dewalt power tools when tickling their captures.

Sunnis are waiting for Saddami, while Shiites are waiting for # 12 Immami.

NYT “Do you know the similarities between a Sunni and a Shiite?”

Both yell Allah Akbar when torturing and killing tied up civilians.

Arrested, both cry like little girls in flexi cuffs when their man-pajamas drop around their ankles.

Downwind you can always smell 'em before you can see 'em.

Both have lumpy on their foreheads.


/i know i would be written up, sink trapped, given demerits and told to take out the garbage.
Posted by RD 2006-10-17 22:31||   2006-10-17 22:31|| Front Page Top

#18 Dari is a dialect of Farsi as is Pashtun. Same root language, differences a bit more pronounced than Moroccan vs Egyptian vs Iraqi Arabic.
And as a matter of fact Afghanis do speak Farsi in the western regions, and various tribla dialects all over the place, and do speak a smattering of Arabic, albeit Koranic.

So that Ranger needs to stop squaring other people's shit away and talk to some real operators.

But he does have a valid point over all - a lot of the leadership doenst know the enemy worth a damn, and that will hamper them in knowing what to do to handle and leverage the areas of operation.

Posted by Indiana Jones 2006-10-17 22:48||   2006-10-17 22:48|| Front Page Top

#19 The difference is that in the US management worships at the Peter Principle. Promote the biggest idiot way beyond his level. With the side effect of electing the biggest morons..

Thats why we need to have random set of registered voters to vote for rather then a volunteer set. The random one is superior.
Posted by 3dc 2006-10-17 23:40||   2006-10-17 23:40|| Front Page Top

#20 A simple post-mortem procedure...
Posted by gromgoru 2006-10-17 23:56||   2006-10-17 23:56|| Front Page Top

23:56 Zenster
23:56 gromgoru
23:53 Zenster
23:51 anon
23:50 RD
23:50 Zenster
23:46 anon
23:42 anon
23:40 3dc
23:35 anon
23:31 RD
23:30 trailing wife
23:29 gromgoru
23:24 Old Patriot
23:24 twobyfour
23:23 JSU
23:22 Joluling Cravimp8492
23:21 3dc
22:52 Barbara Skolaut
22:49 Barbara Skolaut
22:48 Indiana Jones
22:48 Old Patriot
22:47 Zenster
22:43 phil_b









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