Angry Arab chief Bahraini correspondent (her identity shall not be revealed for her protection): "This article on
Bahrain is terrible on so many different levels, but this sentence really stood
out for me:
All Shiites, one was a turbaned cleric who could have
been out of central casting for the part of an Iranian mullah. The second was a
Moscow-trained engineer in a jacket and tie who runs a successful local
contracting company. The third was a woman wearing a headscarf, though more
loosely worn than the head coverings of many of the Sunni women at the
event; she had formerly been a physical-fitness teacher.
Apparently the west views us only through the prism of
whether we are sunni or shia, so even one woman's decision to wear the hijab
more loosely than her peers is viewed through this prism. Being sunni or shia
is the only part of our identity that matters to them.
The author is apparently a "Baker
fellow and director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy." No
wonder American foreign policy is so messed up - you have idiots sitting in
think tanks advising them and claiming to be middle east experts. Maybe I
should start calling myself a middle east expert. Apparently the bar for that
is really low."
