British Major-General Stanley Maude enters Baghdad in March 11, 1917, capturing the province of Mesopotamia from the Ottoman Empire. (NYT)
Whispers of "revolution" are growing louder in Baghdad this month at teahouses, public protests and tribal meetings as Iraqis point to the past as an omen for the future. Iraqis remember 1920 as one of the most glorious moments in modern history, one followed by nearly eight decades of tumult. The bloody rebellion against British rule that year is memorialized in schoolbooks, monuments and mass-produced tapestries that hang in living rooms. Now, many say there's an uncanny similarity with today: unpopular foreign occupiers, unelected governing bodies and unhappy residents eager for self-determination. The result could be another bloody uprising. "We are now under occupation, and the best treatment for a wound is sometimes fire," said Najah al Najafi, a Shiite cleric who joined thousands of marchers at a recent demonstration where construction workers, tribal leaders and religious scholars spoke of 1920.Could be bad. Could be hyperbole. We'll have to see.
I have been reading other independent journalists, and what I’m hearing does not bode well for the U.S. occupation in Iraq. I must say, I do NOT blame the Iraqis at all for feeling this way. I would do the very same in their shoes…Read a bit about it, at this link - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5600.htm
What the authors fail to realize is that while history often is a guide to the future it is not always a mirror. Yes, Iraqis have a strong tendancy to overthrow illegitimate governments, but they didnt take down Saddam.
Secondly, all the major groups know in case of a civil war they would probably come up losers with fractured impotent sub regions. So they will begrudgingly accept many US plans only as long as they leave in a few years after the security vaccuum if filled.
SGT Omar Masry
Baghdad International Airport, Iraq
www.omarmasry.net
I concur with SGT Masry. The Iraqi people have to come together as a Nation or they will be fractured and will find themselfs being ruled by a dictatorship type of government.