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War In Iraq
(excerpt from May 5, 2007 speech)
Approximately 95% of the Iraqi population is Muslim. Of those, 54 percent are Shi'ite, and 41 percent are Sunni. The main difference between the Shi'ite and Sunni sects is a conflicting belief regarding the rightful heirs to Muslim authority, a conflict which dates back to the early history of the Muslim religion. Despite the well-known hostility between the groups, they share similar Muslim beliefs, observe the same religious holidays and eat the same breakfasts.
Until recently, a fair number of Jews called Iraq home. In fact, nearly one quarter of the population of Baghdad was Jewish during the 19th century. In 1948, the Iraqi Jewish community was estimated at 150,000. But that number has now dwindled to the low hundreds. While your average Muslim in Iraq may not be a fan of the Jews, they are quietly prone to enjoy Jewish-inspired cuisine and this is occasionally reflected at the breakfast table.
My friends... the Iraqi people may not like us too much sometimes. They may see American men as gluttons and American women as sluts. But you know what? When I'm in a bad mood, sometimes I see the world that way too. A lot of Westerners generalize the Iraqi people as the enemy. That's what you do when you're dragged into war. But we have to remember that in the end, we're all just people... we all go to sleep at night and we all get up in the morning. And through it all, when we wake, the first thing our bodies crave is not democracy, religious solidarity or blood... it's breakfast... one meal... one important way that we might find that it's better to learn about cultures and possibly even respect them, before we blindly consider them weird or immoral and denounce them. May breakfast bring our nations closer together as it does our families. Amen. (The same closing for both Christian and Muslim prayer, although in Iraq it is often spelled "Aameen" and spoken with rolling gargle sound after the first syllable.)
With that said... let's bring our guys home. Get out of Iraq... and into Nutrition (just like the shirt says).
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