A few days ago, you may have read about a group called the Soldiers of Heaven - an fringe religious group in Iraq who were annihilated on Monday by Iraqi, U.S. and British forces. They were heavily armed and, according to Iraqi intelligence, had been planning to disrupt the commemoration of Ashoura - a holy day particularly celebrated by Shi'a Muslims near the holy city of Najaf. It seemed like a cut and dried story of some maniacs who needed to be put down, Waco-style, and that's how the story first RAN. more than 300 militants were killed and about 650 captured.

Well.. with a few days hindsight, the Washington Post is raising some good QUESTIONS.

Virtually all the information about the cult has come from Iraqi officials, who have released incomplete and sometimes contradictory accounts... The Shiite-dominated government maintains the cult had links to al-Qaida in Iraq, which seems unusual considering the Sunni group's hatred of Shiites as heretics and collaborators with the U.S.

There seems to be no question that the group was armed, and prepared to fight - and there's evidence that group believed that it was guided by the "Hidden Imam", a messianic figure in Shi'a Islam.

It seems most likely that this was Shiite-on-Shiite violence, with millenarian cultists making an attempt to march on Najaf during the chaos of the ritual season," Juan Cole, a Shiite scholar at the University of Michigan, said on his Web site. "The dangers of Shiite-on-Shiite violence in Iraq are substantial, as this episode demonstrated.

So... uh... is this the worst possible time to bring up religious tolerance in the Muslim world?

Of course, violent sects are not the best example. But it IS interesting that the kicker quote in the Post comes from Juan Cole, a noted middle east expert at the University of Michigan and ALSO a longstanding (and controversial) member in the Baha'i faith. If anyone has words to say about minority religions under Shi'a rule, it's the Baha'i, who have had to endure generations of minority status, sub-standard schooling and daily repression under Shiite rule for their religious beliefs. The Baha'i profess such radical beliefs as the unity of the worlds religions, the equality of men and women and the harmony of religion and science. Their founder, Bahaullah, came out of a period of renewed messianic interest in the 19th century.

There's a lot of talk about the challenge of planting democracy. Planting religious tolerance, I think, will be an even thornier battle.