fearlesshistory

The fall of the totalitarian Regime which once controlled the country left a vacuum into which three contesting provinces, or wilayets, challenged each other for dominance. Their divide widened as Sunni, Shi’a, and Kurds struggled against each other for control of the country. A civil war was raging and the external power which governed Iraq - which had actually toppled its regime and set up a tutelary government in its place - was caught spending treasure and blood while its coffers at home were slowly drained. Fanatic nationalists lashed out at everyone and anyone, calling for a jihad or “holy struggle” to displace the white invaders and set up a government which would bring back the Caliphate. Unwilling to risk open warfare in the fragile lands of what was classically known as Mesopotamia, the Western occupiers appealed to the international community through the collective of nations which had been established at the end of the World War. Those nations understood that if Iraq were to fall into chaos, the natural resources it sat upon - as well as its strategic position in the Middle East - would become a prize to extremists or even Russia.

The war to liberate Iraq did not go as quickly as the Western power had thought it would. The War in Iraq ground on for years before the Western power imposed a Constitution on Iraq and forced elections of representative bodies to give voice to the  disgruntled factions in the hopes that Democracy - or at least some semblance of it - would quell the rising violence. The leader of Iraq was chosen from amongst a coterie of Iraqis who realized the path to power was through the might of the Western army. The new leader was a puppet, in the pocket of the Western power and ill-disposed to do anything more than to take the Westerners’ money and do nothing to fix the situation in Iraq. Eventually, though, the Iraqi leader realized that no matter how many well-armed Western troops he could call upon, the people of Iraq were growing restless at the occupation and the violence. He “stood up” to the Western Power that had placed him at the head of Iraq’s government. He called for their withdrawal, called for Iraqi sovereignty, called for Iraqi people to take charge of their government and their land. He became a thorn in the Western Power’s side; they regretted putting him in power but could do aught else but bear with him. The Western power realized it needed to reach out to the tribal leaders, sheikhs, and ulemma or imams and begin building peace if this new Iraq was to be both stable and dependent upon the Western power. They succeeded and through political accords, peace was restored after years and years of fighting and civil war…for a time.

The Western power was Great Britain

The Regime was the Turkish Empire

Collective of nations: The League of Nations

The Leader was King Faysal of the Hashemites, a family which would also be installed in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria. Today, only Jordan still has a Hashemite on the throne.

The years: 1916-1929

Eventually, however, Great Britain re-invaded Iraq in 1941, overthrowing the very regime it had put into power. Great Britain then installed yet another regime that was more amenable to the Western power’s policies. That regime was in turn overthrown by a military coup in 1958, which opened the door to the Ba’athist coup in 1963, which was followed by an internal coup in 1968…all of which allowed Saddam Hussein to rise to power in 1979.

“It’s deja vu all over again”

-Yogi Berra

—————References—————–

British Empire: The Map Room: Middle East: Iraq

Catherwood, C. Churchill’s Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq (Perseus Publishing 2005)

Polk, W. Understanding Iraq: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, From Genghis Khan’s Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation (Harper Collins, 2006)

Silverfarb, D. Britain’s Informal Empire in the Middle East: A Case Study of Iraq, 1929-1941 foreward by Majid Khadduri (Oxford University Press, 1986)

Hinckley, M. “Winner Take All: Winning the Battle of Baghdad by not Waging the Battle of Algiers” presented at the University of California, Santa Barbara, 2005

Hinckley, M. “What Went Wrong in Iraq ?” 2008 (online).

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