From today’s Thomas Friedman op-ed:
What is going on in Iraq today is not only a war between radical Islam and America, it is, more importantly, a war within Islam — between those who want an Islam with a human and progressive face that can meld with the world and those who want an Islam that is exclusivist and hostile to the world. So, yes, we need all the Arab and Muslim support we can get to see Iraq through to some decent outcome. But the Arab-Muslim world needs a decent outcome in Iraq just as much — if not more.
I agree there is a war going on for the expression of Islam in the world. I’m not sure Iraq is the battleground, rather it is a symbol. More important than Iraq for the fight going on for the soul of Islam is Saudi Arabia. Those who are not Muslim, the Wahhabis, should not be given any authority to represent Islam. It’s the worst of Orientalism to allow those who have “power,” in this case petro-dollars, to create an image of the disenfranchised.