An excellent comparison

Submitted by A H (United States), Apr 18, 2003 at 12:37

Like the rest of his insightful work, Dr Pipes has made an excellent comparison between the Iraqi and the Syrian cases. One more thing is worth noticing. The same way in Iraq where a minority (Sunni) controlled power for a long time, an Alawi (division of Shiite) minority controlled power in syria for over 30 years now. In both cases, that resulted in lots of sectarian tension and strangulation. I think many decades of sectarian struggle (e.g. uprise against Assad regime and brutal suppression as in the city of Hama in early 1980's) left that region with deep wounds. It will be interesting to see how people will get along despite the tribal and sectarian hatred in a future "democratic" Iraq, a country that had no history of tolerance.

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