Hasan, grandson of the prophet

What bothers me about American Zionists is that they think that they are Middle East experts by virtue of their fanatic dedication to Israel.  They feel that they don't have to study the Middle East: their fanaticism suffices.  Just as it bothers me with those Arabs who think that their residence in the Middle East qualify them in itself to be Middle East expert.  I always tell the story of that lousy AUB professor (who I never ever bothered to take one course with because he just struck me as the anthetical to an intellectual, `Adnan Iskandar, who upon hearing that I am coming to the US for a PhD gave me the unsolicited advice that we "Arabs don't have to study the Middle East because we are born experts of the region".  Kid you not.  I looked at that pathetic figure and disagreed with him).  So this columnist in the New York Times has this pearl of wisdom today:  "The supreme leader has two models from Shiite lore at his disposal — the conciliation of the second Shiite imam, Hassan ibn Ali, who chose peace over war after his father’s assassination in 661".  In fact, Hasan (son of `Ali and grandson of Muhammmad) did not really pursue peace as he pursued his pursuit of earthly pleasures.  He did not care about anything in the world except earthly pleasures.  Hardly an intellectual pursuit of peace.  By all accounts, Hasan was basically a bimbo.