NYT has this headline today: "Shiite Muslims Condemn U.S. for Attacks on Holy City," thus leaving the impression that Sunni Muslims do not care about what is going on in Najaf, never mind that `Ali is the Fourth Rightly-guided Caliph, the 1st cousin of Muhammad and his son-in-law, and the first male convert to Islam. In fact, the strongest statement against US offensive in Najaf came from the Sunni clerical grouping in Iraq. And I heard yesterday one of the spokespeople (I can say spokesmen as As-Sadr does not believe in roles for women in politics) of As-Sadr saying on one of the Middle East News channels (either AlJazeera or AlManar) that Iraqi Sunnis have been probably more supportive than Shi`ites. My friend A. who follows Arab/Muslim internet fora and chat rooms reports to me that Iraqi Sunnis and Shi`ites have been quite united in rejecting US actions (of "liberation" of course, or "spreading freedom" to quote the intellectually sophisticated US president) in Iraq. But he also reports to me that Bin Laden and Wahhabi fanatics have been typically consistent in their bigotry against and hatred of Shi`ites, showing no sympathy for the plight of people that they consider to be "infidels." But please, do not allow the news of the killings in Najaf to distract you: the Olympic games are about to begin, and this is an opportunity to wave the US flag.