Don't Believe the Propaganda - The Sectarian Myth of Iraq
June 18, 2014 "ICH"
- "The
Guardian" - -
Tony Blair has been widely derided for his
attempted justification of the 2003 Iraq
invasion, and his claim last weekend that
he's blameless over the current turmoil.
Unfortunately, though, many of his critics have
also bought into a central plank of his
argument: that Iraqi society is no more than a
motley collection of religions and ethnicities
which have been waiting for decades, if not
centuries, to slaughter each other and plunge
the place into a bloodbath.
The main
difference between the two sides seems to be
that Blair believes western intervention is the
answer; some of his critics say Iraq needed a
dictator like Saddam to hold the nation
together. Neither side, though, has yet produced
historical evidence of significant communal
fighting between Iraq's religions, sects,
ethnicities or nationalities. Prior to the 2003
US-led occupation, the only incident was the
1941 violent looting of Jewish neighbourhoods –
which is still shrouded in mystery as to who
planned it. Documents relating to that criminal
incident are still kept secret at the Public
Records Office by orders of successive British
governments. The bombing of synagogues in
Baghdad in 1950-51 turned out to be the work of
Zionists to frighten Iraq's Jews – one of the
oldest Jewish communities in the world – into
emigrating to Israel following their refusal to
do so.
June 18, 2014 "ICH"
- "The
Guardian" - -
Tony Blair has been widely derided for his
attempted justification of the 2003 Iraq
invasion, and his claim last weekend that
he's blameless over the current turmoil.
Unfortunately, though, many of his critics have
also bought into a central plank of his
argument: that Iraqi society is no more than a
motley collection of religions and ethnicities
which have been waiting for decades, if not
centuries, to slaughter each other and plunge
the place into a bloodbath.
The main
difference between the two sides seems to be
that Blair believes western intervention is the
answer; some of his critics say Iraq needed a
dictator like Saddam to hold the nation
together. Neither side, though, has yet produced
historical evidence of significant communal
fighting between Iraq's religions, sects,
ethnicities or nationalities. Prior to the 2003
US-led occupation, the only incident was the
1941 violent looting of Jewish neighbourhoods –
which is still shrouded in mystery as to who
planned it. Documents relating to that criminal
incident are still kept secret at the Public
Records Office by orders of successive British
governments. The bombing of synagogues in
Baghdad in 1950-51 turned out to be the work of
Zionists to frighten Iraq's Jews – one of the
oldest Jewish communities in the world – into
emigrating to Israel following their refusal to
do so.
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