Al Sultan for Trading Cars

The USA has a funny effect on world culture. Levi's for Russians, Jerry Lewis for the French and now the car most likely to win a date with a booby trap, the Hummer, has become the de rigueur vehicle in Iraq. Never mind that GM is the tank and may stop making them or that IED's have been shown to blow then to smithereens with determined regularity, canary yellow and fire engine red Hummers are selling like hot cakes.

It seems to me this clannish obsession with status is part of the systemic problem in Iraq; the need to define yourself as a superior devotee of God's brand is the crux of the Sunni-Shiite breach. While Islam may not be alone in this hatred amidst a seemingly homogeneous religious tribe (see Hollywood) Muslims are doing most of the internecine killing in the world today. Face it, these guys are religious racists but to their credit they at least drive American! And as long as they're outfitted with the an after-market mayhem package of Iranian missiles, a Soviet rifle, German tires, and Japanese GPS this shared infatuation for a non religious idol (thanks be to God) could lead to a reconciliation of sorts, an American common ground between the two dominant slices of Muslim pie. Me, I'm hoping the Sufi's end up with most of the Hummers. It's the mystic in me.


[Via NYTs]