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Confusion is the right word

Reader comment on item: In 1796, U.S. Vowed Friendliness With Islam
in response to reader comment: Appeasement of Islam

Submitted by Pat (United States), Nov 7, 2006 at 18:05

When Ayatollah Khomeini began his "death to America" campaign and seized our hostages we were told that the Shia were the extremists and the Sunnis were mainstream. Within two decades we learned just how "mainstream" Sunni Islam was. Now we are told it's the Wahhabists who are the extremists. But aren't the Wahhabists the dominant Sunni sect today? They may have started out as a minor group, but hasn't their control of the oil fields of the Arabian peninsula allowed them to spend their way to prominence within Islam? Is there a Sunni sect that is more ubiquitous than Wahhabism?

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