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To: xt5rt45
The Versailles Treaty created the artificial nation of Iraq, and it wasn’t long before American oil companies were drilling and struggling to participate in the control of "Middle East oil. But it was never smooth sailing for any occupying force in Iraq. After WWI, the British generals upon arriving to secure “their” oil said: “Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators.” Not long afterward a jihad was declared against Britain and eventually they were forced to leave. The more things change, the more they stay the same! Too bad we are not better at studying history."

This paragraph is a good example of the problems of shoehorning history into polemic, which this essay is.
The Mesopotamian Campaign began as an operation to push the Turks back from the Persian oilfields around Abadan that were vital to Great Britain since new classes of capital ships were to be oil fired rather than coal fired.

Military commanders on the ground kept pushing operations further inland and the India Office rather than the War Office really called the shots encouraging the mission creep with more troops to encourage the Russians to push deeper into Persia to link up with Brit forces.

Unfortunately the very ambitious Gen Townshend tried to capture Baghdad with insufficient forces and ended up having his force captured in the biggest British defeat since Saratoga. This made massive escalation inevitable to save British face before the Arabs and Muslims in India. A large force well supported logistically captured Baghdad and in the final weeks of the war captured areas far in the north known to hold oil.
After the war the British faced a large tribal uprising. however they did not leave. The rebellion was put down decisively with the RAF effectively terrorizing the revolting Arabs. To cut costs a puppet dynasty was put on the throne of the invented country of Iraq. The British held on to the overwhelming bulk of the oil deposits and Iraq became a British satellite state with a substantial RAF presences to overawe the Arabs and a 'defense treaty' which effectively made HM's ambassador have veto power over Iraqi foreign and defense policy.

In World War 2 pro-Axis Iraqi politicians led by Rashid Ali tried to expel the British and invite in the Germans. The British mounted a brilliant little expeditionary operation and crushed the revolt and turned Iraq into a British training and maneuver area for the rest of the war.

British retreat from Iraq in the late 40s was connected to the general retreat of British power in the Middle East and the US picked up a vague sort of defense protectorate over Iraq.

Just saying a jihad was declared and the British were forced to leave can be said to be charitably at best to be a gross misstatement of events. Polemicists of all hues regularly engage in this sort of historical distortion which is so great as to often be little more than lies.
11 posted on 09/09/2005 9:54:15 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: robowombat

History is a B**tch,I believe that both of our posts illustrate that


16 posted on 09/09/2005 9:59:32 AM PDT by kublia khan (absolute war brings total victory)
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