Glorious Mundanity

The front-runner for Prime Minister in Iraq seems to be steering a careful course between Islam and secularism:

The shy family doctor who became the leading candidate for prime minister Tuesday says ending the nation's rampant violence is his top priority and that U.S. troops would remain as long as they are needed to achieve that goal.

In an exclusive Associated Press interview, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a 58-year-old moderate Shiite Muslim politician who fled a brutal crackdown by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in 1980, also talked about drafting a constitution that will draw not only on Islam for inspiration.

The great blight of the Arab world for the last century is that the most dangerous job in the world is "Moderate Arab". Moderates in Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt and much of the rest of the world have been the first target of extremists of both sides - even before Jews and Americans.

This may be the biggest battle to be won in Iraq - the fight to make the world safe for Moslems and Arabs who seek moderation between nationalism, faith, desire for modernism and democracy.

You know - the same thing we Americans take for granted.

Posted by Mitch at February 16, 2005 04:42 AM | TrackBack