Iraq was the “greatest strategic disaster in United States history,”

[GePap]

Originally posted by Oerdin


By that definition the Chinese revolution wasn't really Chinese since they were following the exact same "outside path"; i.e. Marxism-Leninism.

I think most people will agree that the Chinese Revolution was indeed... Chinese.

Except that Chinese is an ethnic classification and Muslim is a religious one.

Given that the UNited States was a Christian state (remains) in 1776, would you declare the American revolution a "Christian" one?

That is the difference. What unites Saudia Arabia, and Pakistan, and Iran, and Malaysia is not ethnicity. Its not language. Its not really even historcial culture. Hell, can Malaysia and Saudia Arabia be any more different? But what unites them is religion.

Of all the movements in the Muslim (ie. a group united by faith, not nationality or shared history) world, Iran's revolution has been the only one to try to tackle the issue that challanges all Muslim states, the relation between Faith and Rule.

This is why Qutb's writing (sp) have been so influential: Christianity grew up oppresed- the separation of Caesar and Christ was a given. So over the centuries Christian political scholars could rationalize the difference. Islam grew up as the dominant religion-meaning it has to deal with its role in power. Socialism, Liberal Democracy, they all assume religion to be separate from governance, and act this way- this has caused huge strains in the Muslim world. Iran's revolution has been the only one to attempt, however poorly, to directly address this issue in a constitutional and practical manner, as opposed to the Autocratic regimes of the Arab world, or the Forced secularism of Turkey, something that is slipping.