Sunni Iraqis adopt Religious Radicalism
Others Support Saddam
Dan Murphy of the Christian Science Monitor reports on the way in which Sunni Iraqis are turning toward Salafi Islam. Salafis are sort of militantly Protestant Sunnis who reject the canons of medieval scholarship and strive to go back to the practice of the Prophet and his companions in early Islam. In recent decades Salafis have become a key recruitment pool for radical groups with a violent bent. The Sunni middle classes in Iraq had been relatively secular until recently, but the American conquest has caused many of them to turn to religion, some to radical religion.
Meanwhile, Ken Dilanian of the Philadelphia Inquirer, meanwhile, reports that substantial numbers of Sunnis in the upscale Adhamiyah quarter of Baghdad continue to support Saddam Hussein. He worries that this support for the fallen dictator bodes ill for the future of the country, given how much most Shiites and Kurds hate Saddam.