The author is an idiot.
The Ottoman's conquered what is now Iraq in 1532. The people were "forced to live together" for nearly 400 years before Churchill got involved.
The root of chaos in the Middle East is islam.
Wherever islam goes, chaos is not far behind. It's islam's fault and no one else.
Of course Islamic imperialism has nothing to do with it.
Once again, it's everyone's fault but the mooselimbs.
Now it's Churchill's fault and tomorrow it will be Tony Blair's fault. And in five decades it will be someone else's fault.
The person who's fault it will never be, is the Arab on the street who cares more about sticking it to Israel than the lives of his own children.
I wonder if the Germans didn't stir up a few things during WWI and WWII. And of course, the people who really attracted the interest of Modern Europe to the Middle East, none other than the Barbary Pirates. Which, way back when, were terrorist being supported by state governments.
""Islam is now the number one enemy not only of Europe, but of the entire free world," states Filip Dewinter, leader of Vlaams Belang (The Flemish Interest), now Belgium's most popular political party."
Winston Churchill, age 24, 107 years ago.
Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green | 1899
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism[72 virgins, I'm assuming] deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.
The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."
Has anything really changed?
I highly recommend therapy and a 12 Step Program!!!! LOL!
The author is an idiot.
The Ottoman's conquered what is now Iraq in 1532. The people were "forced to live together" for nearly 400 years before Churchill got involved.
I did not read the article, but we have all seen the residue spread accross the Middle East from the "dearly departed" British Empire; and I myself have criticized the Brits directly for some of the current situations.
But, many history books later, I am reminded that the British Empire did not exist or arise in a vacuum, and there is every indication that any number of imperial minded powers would have stepped in and filled the power vacuum that would have existed in many places, inviting others in the absence of the Brits.
It was not simply the Brits, it was the times and the nature of the "world order" in those times. The Brits were no worse than many other "empires" and better than most.
Geez, if I understand the 'author' correctly, I guess strong dictators are good. They keep nations united, quell old hatreds and bloody civil wars, etc. /sarc
When the hell is everyone going to stop blaming the British, the colonial empire etc. for the fact that muslims have been gleefully killing people for the past 1000 years.