  “All that is needed for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” -Edmund Burke Great Britain and Iraq have a long history.. |
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The British Motivations for participating in the newer colonial exploitation of Iraq run deep. "To understand the current Iraq crisis, we must look at events and interests that shaped the modern history of the country. This section looks particularly at how Western powers – notably the UK and the US – have used their military might and commercial prowess to dominate Iraq and control its oil resources. The story includes the secret battles between Britain and France over Iraqi oil in the World War I era, Winston Churchill’s 1920 plan to control colonial Iraq from airplanes armed with mustard gas bombs, and more recent developments such as Iraq's nationalization of its oil resources in the early 1970s, CIA support for the coup that first brought Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party to power, and the US supplies of chemical and biological warfare materials to Hussein's government in the 1980s." http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/histindex.htm "World War I brought the British Empire to the peak of its expansion, but in the years that followed came its decline. Victory added, under the system of mandates, new territories, including Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq, and several former German territories in Africa and Asia." www.answers.com/topic/british-empire "Britain set up a colonial regime in Iraq after a long military campaign during World War I. In response to Iraqi resistance, including a country-wide uprising in 1920, British forces battled for over a decade to pacify the country, using airplanes, armored cars, firebombs and mustard gas. Air attacks were used to shock and awe, to teach obedience and to force the collection of taxes. Winston Churchill, as responsible cabinet minister in the early years, saw Iraq as an experiment in high-technology colonial control. Though officials in London sometimes had qualms about the violence, colonial administrators on the ground like Gertrude Bell expressed enthusiasm for the power of the imperial military enterprise." http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/britishindex.htm "France and Great Britain secretly agreed to partition most of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire between them and eventually obtained mandates from the League of Nations: Britain over Iraq, Palestine, and Transjordan; France over Syria and Lebanon." http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/Sec14.htm "Although loath to lessen its hold over countries it had done much to develop, and thereby to incur great economic and political loss, Britain gradually capitulated to the pressures of nationalist sentiment. Iraq gained full sovereignty in 1932" www.answers.com/topic/british-empire "1932 United Kingdom Ends League of Nations Mandate over Iraq. Britain continues to station troops in the country and influence the Iraqi government until 1958." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decolonization The 14th of July 1958 revolution was greatly welcomed by the Iraqi people. To the poor, it was mainly a great hope for an optimistic future. From the first hours of the revolution, there was an active support from Iraqis who took to the streets celebrating and vowing to defend the revolution. Because of the resistance, the monarchic regime fell and Iraq was proclaimed an independent republic. Abdul Karim Qasim, who was the head of the Free Officers movement, became a prime minister and a true ruler of Iraq. This revolution sparked many positive developments in Iraq. On July 26, 1958, the Interim Constitution was adopted, proclaiming the equality of all Iraqi citizens under the law and granting them freedom without regard to race, nationality, language or religion. The government freed political prisoners and granted amnesty to the Kurds who participated in the 1943 to 1945 Kurdish uprisings. The exiled Kurds returned home and were welcomed by the republican regime. "1958 Revolutionary War for Independence in Iraq The objective of the revolution, as defined by its leaders, was to liberate Iraq from the oligarchic monarchy and British imperialism and to rebuild and reconstruct Iraq by adapting social and economic measures to improve peoples' living standards." http://www.iraqcp.org/0030711shE.htm "1958 UN trustee Britain withdraws from Iraq, which becomes an independent Hashemite Kingdom (like Jordan, but soon to become a republic through the first of several coups d'état). "The United States invaded Iraq in alliance with Britain on March 20, 2003, winning a quick military victory and ousting the government of Saddam Hussein. Though the US and the UK claimed they acted in accordance with international law, an overwhelming majority of the world’s governments and people thought otherwise. Since then, the US-UK occupation has encountered increasing armed resistance in Iraq, and support for the war and occupation has steadily declined in the invading countries. US-UK claims about Iraqi weapons threats and terror links have proven false, and the costs of the operation have risen." http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/irqindx.htm |
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