Col. Ralph Peters on Sunnis looking the other way when Shia are killed unless they can tie the United States into the mix:

Imagine the reaction if Western agents slaughtered a hundred Sunni pilgrims on their way to Mecca. The outrage would spark incendiary rhetoric, riots and revenge killings from Peshawar to Paris.

But when Sunni suicide bombers murdered 118 Shia pilgrims (and wounded almost 200 more) on Tuesday, Sunnis around the globe looked away: Shias only count as Muslims when America can be blamed for their suffering . . .

Where was the outcry?

Human-rights groups were too busy applauding European requests for the extradition of CIA operatives (the real enemies of Western civilization, of course). Since this butchery wasn’t the fault of Americans or Brits, the Europeans themselves took no interest.

American leftists, who raved that Abu Ghraib was another Auschwitz, didn’t offer a single word of pity for the Muslim victims of Muslims.

All to be expected.

But shouldn’t Muslims have denounced the attacks on the pilgrims? Shouldn’t such an atrocity have sparked Arab anger that transcended Islam’s internal divide? After all, those murdered Shias were fellow Arabs, not Persians.

Where were the public statements of sympathy by government ministers and mullahs? Where was the noble Arab media? Where are the outraged demonstrations?

This is a point we’ve made all too often.  For there to be genuine signs of anger in the Middle East, it takes an American or a Jew to somehow be involved, and it’s maddening.  Cartoons are enough to fire-bomb about, but the continued slaughter of pious Muslims by Muslims is just another piece of news.  Perhaps it’s because it’s to be expected, but that still doesn’t mean it’s any less bizarre.