One has to wonder who exactly plans wars these days. It used to be master tacticians, legendary strategists, brilliant field marshals and the like that were tasked with the tricky but dirty business of going to war. These days, any tool with the right political connections and sufficient standing in Congress can rustle up a backyard brawl… one that will claim several thousand lives (I am of course referring to the Iraq conflict but other examples are plentiful). Furthermore, the enlightened individuals (Senators, Representatives, etc.) tasked with oversight are just as clueless as the decision makers (read: the Democrats are as responsible for this as the Republicans).

The complexities of planning a war extend out to beyond what I want to cover in this article, but suffice to say, knowing who it is you are fighting is important, nay, critical. The following article was written by Mr. Jeff Stein who took it upon himself to find out whether the average decision maker in Washington knew who the enemy was. The responses will shock you. The article is HERE.

You wonder how the war in Iraq (and to a lesser extent, Afghanistan) is going so poorly but after reading the aforementioned article, it’s a no-brainer isn’t it. To be fair, I personally know members of the armed forces who dedicated countless hours to learning the intricacies of the local language, culture and customs and who would have no problem identifying the enemy. Unfortunately, they don’t dictate policy.

The US is the most powerful country in the world. But knowledge is power. And in matters related to the current conflicts, the US is hardly the most knowledgeable and therefore not the most powerful. As a result, the situation in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan is a veritable pain the ass, an ass that needs a thorough cleaning. Like I started out saying, know thy enemy or know thy enema.

I’ve included a map showing the distribution of Sunnis and Shias worldwide. As you can see Sunnis are easily the majority.

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