This seems like good news, if true:
“In the beginning, they gave their eyes and minds to the clerics; they trusted them,” said Abu Mahmoud, a moderate Sunni cleric in Baghdad, who now works deprogramming religious extremists in American detention. “It’s painful to admit, but it’s changed. People have lost too much. They say to the clerics and the parties: You cost us this.”
“When they behead someone, they say ‘Allahu akbar,’ they read Koranic verse,” said a moderate Shiite sheik from Baghdad, using the phrase for “God is great.”
“The young people, they think that is Islam,” he said. “So Islam is a failure, not only in the students’ minds, but also in the community.”
A professor at Baghdad University’s School of Law, who identified herself only as Bushra, said of her students: “They have changed their views about religion. They started to hate religious men. They make jokes about them because they feel disgusted by them.”
If militant Islam is the enemy, this seems like a victory to me. Let’s try to spread the infection throughout the Muslim world.
France probably went through the most intense period of religious strife and bloodshed in the 17th century of any European country. The country was filled thousands of people willing to kill for religion (or at least use religion as an excuse to satisfy their greed and lust for power). Iraq is going through the exact same thing now.
The ‘Enlightenment’ period of the 18th century, centered in France was a direct reaction to the religious persecutions that proceeded it. Hopefully, the people of Iraq are going through the same process, although I hope they don’t end up exactly like France is now.