Showing that the White House doesn’t have a clue about the Syrian War, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Sheikh declared that Iran’s Shiite citizens are “not Muslims.” Saudi Arabia’s supreme Islamic authority makes the clearest distinction yet between his Wahhabi Sunni sect and complete repudiation of Shiite Islam. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad represents the Alawite Shiite government in Syria, something Saudi Arabia considers apostates. Age-old distinctions between Sunnis and Shiite date back to 900 CE, 268 years after the death of Mohammad in 632 CE. Of the estimated 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, only 200 million are Shiite or about 12% of the total Islamic population. In backing Saudi Arabia’s proxy war against al-Assad, President Barack Obama failed to see the sectarian war, dragging the U.S. into ancient battles between Sunnis and Shiites.
Recent spats between Saudi Arabia and Iran date to Sept. 24, 2015 during the traditional Hajj Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca when at least 2,426 pilgrims were stampeded to death, including 464 Iranian pilgrims. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the Saudis for gross negligence, expecting Saudi King Salman to make appropriate reparations to Iranian families. “Heartless and murderous Saudis locked up the injured with the dead in containers—instead of providing medical treatment and helping them or at least quenching their thirst. They murdered them,” said Khamenei, prompting Saudi’s to top cleric to lash out. Letting the age old spat between Sunnis and Shiites get out of hand, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz was quoted in the Makkah newspaper saying it’s “not surprising” because Persians are descendants of “Majuws,” the Saudi word for Zoroastrians.
Blaming Persians for their Zoroastrian roots, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz exposes deep divisions in the Islamic world, especially because Persians converted to Shiite Islam in around 1,500 CE during the reign of Safavid Ismail I. “We must understand they are not Muslims, for they are the descendents of Majuws, and their enmity toward Muslims, especially the Sunnis, is very old,” said Mufti Abdulaziz, laying bare today’s Syrian war where a Saudi funded Wahhabi insurgency seeks to topple Syria’s Alawite Shiite regime. Iran, through its al-Quds force and Hezbollah militia has fought for nearly six years with Russian to save al-Assad’s Shiite government from a determined Saudi-U.S.-Turkish-funded proxy war. When Mufti Adulaziz talks about Iranian “enmity,” it’s a two-way street, especially considering Saudi Arabia has spent nearly six years trying to topple al-Assad’s Shiite regime
Backing the Saudis in their Sunni insurgency against Syria’s Shiite government has driven U.S.-Russian relations to the lowest level since the Cold War’s Cuban Missile Crisis. Instead of learning from the Iraq War, Obama chose, for whatever reasons, to back Saudi Arabia’s quest to oust al-Assad. When you consider Saudi’s Grand Mufti saying Persians are not Muslims, it lets the world see firsthand Saudi’s fanatical Wahhabi government. U.S. officials never really admitted the Saudi connection in Sept. 11, where 15-of-the-19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. With all its oil wealth, Saudi Arabia has greased the palms of many U.S. elected officials, including 68-year-old Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Nobody knows for sure how much cash, while Hillary ran the State Department [Jan. 21, 2009 to Feb. 1, 2013], the Saudis deposited into the Clinton Foundation.
Obama and Hillary have 100% backed the Saudi proxy war against al-Assad, trying to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China to back regime change in Damascus. Speaking at Oxford University today, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned Russia not to mess with the West’s pro-Democracy agenda. Carter suggested it’s up to Putin to cooperate with the West to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Carter won’t admit the White House’s failed Syrian policy, backing Saudi Arabia’s attempt to oust al-Assad. Carter’s comments at Oxford speak volumes about a failed U.S. policy that adds nothing to Syria other than more death, destruction and terrorism. Obama won’t admit that Russia and Iran have done everything possible to save al-Assad’s regime from a radical Wahhabi takeover—something that would further destabilize the Middle East.
Listening to Grand Mufti Abdulaziz disparage Shiite Islam reveals the extent of Saudi Arabia’s fanatical practice of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism. Putin warned Sept. 28, 2015 at last year’s U.N. General Assembly of dire consequences to toppling al-Assad’s Shiite regime. Saudi Arabia doesn’t like Iran’s Supreme Leader calling out the Kingdom for sewing sectarian strife and arming groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] and al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra Front to topple Shiite governments like in Syria. Executing prominent Shiite Cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr Jan. 9, Saudi’s King Salman threw down the gauntlet with Iran, promptly breaking off diplomatic relations. Instead of calling Iran the chief sponsor of state terrorism, the White House should look carefully at Saudi Arabia, especially for it’s backing of the Syrian War, fueling the worst humanitarian crisis since WWII.
