Shia Quotes

• Sunnis consider Shias a pack of unwholesome fanatics and Shias consider Sunnis a gang of lukewarm no-goods - there's nothing like religion for spreading brotherly love!

  Dervla Murphy

  Brotherly Love, Gang, Goods

  Dervla Murphy (1987). “Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle”, p.70, The Overlook Press

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• If the Americans attack Iran for the first time in 1,400 years, we may unite Sunnis and Shias against us. So I guess there is room for accomplishment everywhere.

  Michael Scheuer

  Iran, Years, Accomplishment

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Just a few thousand Hezbollah fighters set two countries on fire all by themselves. Don't discount what bloody mayhem and hell a few thousand armed Druze, Christians, and Sunni can do if they decide to go hunting Shia in revenge for destroying their country.

  Michael Totten

  Christian, Country, Revenge

  "Lebanon’s Premature Liberalism". www.michaeltotten.com. July 26, 2006.

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• I know of no wars started by anyone to impose lack of religion on someone else. We have lethal Sunni v Shia, Catholic against Protestant, but no agnostic suicide bombers attack crowded atheist pubs.

  Simon Hoggart

  Suicide, Atheist, War

  "Simon Hoggart's week: Ever heard of an agnostic suicide bomber?" by Simon Hoggart, www.theguardian.com. February 24, 2012.

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• Today, the Muslim world is injured and corrupt. People who are the enemies of all Muslims are trying to cause disunity in the Islamic world by intensifying ethnic difference and separating people under names such as 'Shia and Sunni', 'Arabs and non-Arabs'.

  Ali Khamenei

  Islamic, Names, Differences

  "Ethnic Cleansing Operation in Myanmar Nothing Short of Sadistic: UK Analyst". en.humanrights-iran.ir. September 17, 2017.

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• There are many, many discrepant views within the Shia theology about what's the proper role of religion in society or in the State, should it rule now, should it claim to govern people in the here and now, or should it wait until the Messiah, the 12th Imam, comes back and would it only be then appropriate for religious rule to bring about a world of universal justice and vindication.

  Christopher Hitchens

  Religious, Views, People

  Source: www.abc.net.au

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• Shia phobia or Sunni phobia...we never hear about this. They murder each other!

  Manfred Gerstenfeld

  Murder, Phobia

  Source: www.beliefnet.com

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• This cannot be the United States being the air force for Shia militias, or a Shia on Sunni Arab fight.

  David Petraeus

  Military, Fighting, Air

  "Kevin McCarthy talks Iraq, future of the GOP; latest on IRS scandal". "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace, www.foxnews.com. June 22, 2014.

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• There is no military solution to the war in Iraq. Our troops can help suppress the violence, but they cannot solve its root causes. And all the troops in the world won't be able to force Shia, Sunni, and Kurd to sit down at a table, resolve their differences, and forge a lasting peace. In fact, adding more troops will only push this political settlement further and further into the future, as it tells the Iraqis that no matter how much of a mess they make, the American military will always be there to clean it up.

  Barack Obama

  Military, War, Roots

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• This current government in Iraq has never fulfilled the commitments it made to form a unity government with the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shia. We have worked hard with them within the confines of our ability to do that but we can't dictate to them.

  Chuck Hagel

  Military, Commitment, Iraq

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• Unfortunately, the source of all this conflict between the Sunnis and Shia is some major powers that do not want religious unity amongst Muslims.

  Yousef Saanei

  Religious, Unity, Want

  "The Women's Mufti: Interview with Grand Ayatollah Yousef Saanei". Asharq Al-Awsat Interview, eng-archive.aawsat.com. April 6, 2007.

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• I don't think the whole of Iraq would be under al-Sadr, but I think he would be the predominant force on the Shia side. Quite contrary to his sort of maverick, firebrand image, he's shown a propensity to deal with the other side, to look for compromises, to negotiate. You might have a loose federation [in Iraq].

  Patrick Cockburn

  Thinking, Iraq, Would Be

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• I asked Shia: who is the guy that terrifies you the most? And he said Mads. So it was somebody we both really wanted to work with. He's intimidating, but has a really big heart and he's sexy. He's got this sexiness, even guys fall for him. He just penetrates everything-not literally. So we needed a brokenhearted thug that could really give us the heartache. And going between the violence and viciousness and the complete softness without making it too much. A lot of those characters can go into a charade, and I needed it to be genuine heartbrokenness and that's what he's great at doing.

  Fredrik Bond

  Sexy, Fall, Heart

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• Right, because they're looking at also organizing the Sunni tribes up around Mosul to take back that city as well. That's the second largest city in Iraq. That's going to be a very, very tough fight. And the Shia militias were not used in Ramadi, and we're told by the Iraqi generals that they don't want any Shia militias up in Mosul, either, to take back that city. So - but again, that's going to be a very, very tough fight.

  Tom Bowman

  Fighting, Cities, Iraq

  "Examining The Ramadi Offensive, Is It Working?". "Morning Edition" with David Greene, www.npr.org. December 24, 2015.

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• The Arabs are victims. You have Shia Arabs, under Arabization under Saddam Hussein, who were forcibly moved up there... You have Kurds who were displaced by these Arabs that were moved up there by Saddam Hussein. Kurds have been displaced from Kirkuk for hundreds of years.

  Raymond T. Odierno

  Years, Hussein, Victim

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• Iran has interest in seeing that the Shia population of Iraq basically adhere to a line that comes from Iran.

  Richard Armitage

  Iran, Iraq, Population

  "Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage". "On the Record" with Greta Van Susteren, www.foxnews.com. July 14, 2003.

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• It's easy to say, let's go in and get the bad guys. But you have a divided country of Sunnis and Shias. The United States goes and takes action there on behalf of the Iraqi government. You've got Iran coming in and saying we're going to stand with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, so now we're aligning ourselves with Iran, and if we do air strikes, becoming de facto air force for them.

  Tulsi Gabbard

  Country, Military, Government

  "The Lead with Jake Tapper", www.cnn.com. June 12, 2014.

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• Fourth, we will continue providing humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians who have been displaced by this terrorist organization. This includes Sunni and Shia Muslims who are at grave risk, as well as tens of thousands of Christians and other religious minorities. We cannot allow these communities to be driven from their ancient homelands.

  Barack Obama

  Christian, Religious, Islamic

  President Obama's Speech on Combating ISIS and Terrorism, www.cnn.com. September 10, 2014.

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• And on this issue of the Shia in Iraq, I think there's been a certain amount of, frankly, Terry, a kind of pop sociology in America that, you know, somehow the Shia can't get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq just want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There's almost no evidence of that at all. Iraq's always been very secular.

  William Kristol

  Islamic, Thinking, Iraq

  "Bill Kristol's guide to falling upward" by Eric Alterman, www.theguardian.com. April 24, 2009.

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• The U.S. cannot force Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds to make peace or to act for the common good. They have been in conflict for 1,400 years.

  Peter DeFazio

  Years, Common, Conflict

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• It [the intelligence service] concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes, including against his own Shia population; and that he is actively trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability.

  Tony Blair

  Military, Intelligence Services, Iraq

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• Until quite recently I've been wholly cut off from [the Shias] because their tenets forbid them to look upon an unveiled woman and my tenets don't permit me to veil Nor is it any good trying to make friends through the women - if they were allowed to see me they would veil before me as if I were a man. So you see I appear to be too female for one sex and too male for the other.

  Gertrude Bell

  Sex, Cutting, Men

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• But from the moment George Bush decided to overthrow Saddam, the people who were going to benefit here were the Shia, who are 60 percent of the population. So if you were ever going to have an election, then the Shia would take over.

  Patrick Cockburn

  People, Population, Benefits

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• To move any regime you need to have co-operation and co-ordination between Kurds, Shia Arabs, Sunni Arabs, the people and the army. Until we have this we cannot change the regime.

  Jalal Talabani

  Change, Moving, Army

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• At the end of the day...if your army won't fight, it's because they don't trust their incompetent, corrupt generals, they don't trust each other. This is an enduring civil war between the Shia, the Sunni, and the Kurds. So I don't think we've got any options and we'd be ill-advised to start bombing where we really can't sort out the combatants or understand where the civilian population is.

  Barry McCaffrey

  Military, War, Army

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