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March 24, 2003
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March
24, 2003
Baghdad is
Key to Control of the Middle East
Iraq's Liberation
in Perspective
By AHMAD FARUQUI
Iraq--the
cradle of civilization and fabled seat of the Abbasid Khalifa--is about
to be liberated for the second time in less than a century. The current
military operation represents a major inflection point in its history,
perhaps in the history of the Middle East, and possibly in world history.
Future historians will judge how Iraqis will greet the new liberators.
But historians have already passed judgment on the first liberation.
On March 11, 1917,
Lieutenant-General Sir Stanley Maude and his Anglo-Indian Army of the
Tigris entered Baghdad. The campaign to invest Baghdad took place against
the backdrop of the First World War. It seemed to have had no clear
strategic objectives except the fulfillment of the new prime minister'
s desire to capture the fabled city of the Arabian Nights. In retrospect,
the invasion of Iraq gave the government of Lloyd George the opening
to invade Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.
The campaign was
the brainchild of Sir Mark Sykes of the Arab Bureau in Whitehall, a
novice with less than two years of executive experience. Sir Mark asked
General Maude to read out a proclamation couched in "high-flown
phrases of liberation and freedom, of past glory and future greatness,"
according to British historian David Fromkin.[1]
The commanding general
commanding assured the people of Iraq, "Our armies do not come
into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators."
He continued, "O people of Baghdad, remember that for 26 generations
you have suffered under strange tyrants who have endeavoured to set
one Arab house against another in order that they might profit by your
dissensions." [2]
It proved difficult
to govern Iraq and General Maude was put in the awkward position of
having to preach self-rule while discouraging its practice. He cabled
London that local conditions did not permit employing Arabs in responsible
positions, "Before any truly Arab facade [sic] can be applied to
edifice, it seems essential that foundation of law and order should
be well and truly laid."
What General Maude
had discovered was that Mesopotamia was a place where 75 percent of
the population was tribal "with no previous tradition of obedience
to any government," and a place with a long history of power struggle
between the Shias and the Sunnis. Eventually, vague rumors, constant
unrest, and repeated killings took their toll on British nerves.
Three young army officers were killed in Kurdistan in 1919. An experienced
official sent by the Government of India to replace them was killed
a month later. Six British officers were killed in the spring of 1920.
Later, two political officers were abducted and murdered. The Iraqi
desert was full of raiding parties, and one British officer was led
to believe that the only way to deal with the disaffected tribes was
"wholesale slaughter."
More chaos was to
follow in the months to come. Posts were over-run, British officers
killed and communication killed in the Middle Euphrates region. Colonel
Gerald Leachman, a leading British officer, was shot in the back and
killed on the orders of the tribal sheikh who was hosting him during
a gathering of the tribes. The news of his killing led to further tribal
uprisings along the Euphrates and north and west of Baghdad.
In the summer of
1920, a one-time junior officer in the Arab Bureau in Cairo and now
a celebrity, Colonel T. E. Lawrence, commented acridly that the Turks
had been better rulers. He said the Turks kept 14,000 local conscripts
employed in Iraq and killed an average of 200 Arabs in maintaining the
peace. The British had deployed 90,000 men, with airplanes, armored
cars, gunboats and armoured trains, and killed about 10,000 Arabs in
the summer uprising.
On August 7, 1920, The Times demanded to know "how much longer
are valuable lives to be sacrificed in the vain endeavour to impose
upon the Arab population an elaborate and expensive administration which
they never asked for and do not want?"
The revolt was brought
to an end in February 1921, but Britain had suffered nearly 2,000 casualties,
including 450 dead. Many attempts were made to analyze the mysterious
revolt in the Iraqi desert, since the British had been told that the
Arabs would appreciate British rule. Confessing total ignorance about
the locals, an official argued that the enemy facing the British was
"anarchy plus fanaticism, devoid of any political aspect."
The Mesopotamian
provinces of Baghdad and Basra were the first to be conquered by the
British from the Ottoman Empire. In the autumn of 1917 General Sir Edmund
Allenby invaded Palestine and on December 11, he and his officers entered
the holy city of Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate. Prime Minister Lloyd
George regarded it as a Christmas gift, and wrote that Christendom had
regained "possession of its sacred shrines." French General
Henri Gouraud entered Damascus in July 1920. After kicking Salahuddin's
tomb, Gouraud exclaimed, "Awake Saladin, we have returned. My presence
here consecrates the victory of the Cross over the Crescent."
In a few years, the Arabs were rioting in Palestine and rebelling in
Iraq at a very inconvenient time, when the economy of the Empire was
collapsing and when the Crown's time, energy and resources were needed
to revive it. An exasperated Winston Churchill, who had taken over the
mantle of Britain's colonial policies in the Middle East, was to tell
the British government that it was spending millions for the privilege
of sitting atop a volcano. Lamenting on the British experience in Palestine,
the "last lion" was to write, "At first, the steps were
wide and shallow, covered with a carpet, but in the end the very stones
crumbled under their feet."
Much has changed
during the past century. A former colony across the Atlantic has eclipsed
Britain, and is the new home to an empire on which the sun never sets.
The armies of the new empire are now invading Iraq, with the armies
of the old empire in tow. The soldiers are marching in, bearing the
gift of democracy. However, unlike General Maude, General Franks will
not ride into Baghdad on horseback, but in the air-conditioned comfort
of modern armored vehicles, after having used the firepower of five
aircraft carriers to invest Baghdad.
The tactics of liberation
have changed as the empires have changed places, but the objectives
remain the same. Iraq remains the lynchpin to the Middle East, and whoever
controls Baghdad will control the Middle East.
As the French say,
"the more things change, the more they stay the same."
Ahmad Faruqui
is an economist. He can be reached at: faruqui@pacbell.net
[1] David Fromkin,
A Peace To End All Peace, Avon Books, 1989.
[2] Quoted in Stephen
Fidler, Financial Times, March 14, 2003, p. 4.
Today's Features
Alexander Cockburn
Ominous Signs
David
Lindorff
Peacekeepers at Ground Zero
Diane Christian
Blood Sacrifice
Kathy
Kelly
The Morning After Shock and Awe
John Stanton
US Bombs Iran
Wayne
Madsen
How to Live with a Rogue Superpower
Anthony Gancarski
Iraq and the Death of the West
David
Vest
Earth vs. Bush
Ahmad Faruqui
The Liberation of Iraq in Perspective
Robert
Fisk
We Bomb, They Suffer
Website of the War
Iraq
Body Count
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