#6. The Violence that Brings Silence: Mesopotamia

Iraq is situated in the land that the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia, meaning land between the rivers. The name refers to the Tigris and the Euphrates, two large rivers in Iraq. This location became what many have called the “cradle of civilization.” On this site in about 4000 B.C. arose the world’s first civilization, called Sumer, long before the development of other famous ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Greece, and Rome.  Sumerians are credited with such early human achievements as the invention of writing, the plow, and the wheel. The famous Sumerian city of Ur arose in southern Mesopotamia and became one of the most prosperous Sumerian cities. In about 2340 B.C., however, the Sumerian civilization collapsed after clashes with other peoples who migrated to the Arabian Peninsula.  The modern country of Iraq was not created until the twentieth century, when the outbreak of World War I caused Britain to invade areas around Basra and Baghdad. The British wanted to ensure that no other European nation would dominate these areas because such a development might threaten their route to India, a country then part of Britain’s colonial empire. Arabs in Iraq hoped for independence after the collapse of Ottoman rule, but these hopes were destroyed when Britain brutally suppressed a united Sunni-Shia revolt against postwar British rule in 1920. Due to Britain’s actions, the government in Iraq became dominated by Sunnis, even though they constituted only a minority of the population in Iraq. This provoked more tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Britain also set the boundaries for the modern state of Iraq artificially, in response to Western interests and in order to control sites of Iraqi oil reserves. These boundaries included not only Arab-populated areas but also an area near Turkey inhabited by a non- Arab ethnic group of Indo-European ancestry called the Kurds, whose culture and history is separate from both the Sunnis and the Shias. This artificial grouping of three distinct ethnic sects in the same country deepened ethnic differences. Iraq became a sovereign state in 1932 but continued to suffer from political unrest caused by opposition to British control and conflict between Iraq’s three ethnic sects—Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds. In 1958 the British monarchy in Iraq was overthrown in a coup led by a military officer, Abdul Karim Qasim. Qasim’s revolution won the support of most Iraqis and succeeded in ridding Iraq of remnants of British repression. However, when the new government adopted Communist social and economic reforms that were unpopular with many Sunnis. In 1963 the Baath Party, a pro-Arab political group that included in its membership a young Saddam Hussein. Many believe that the Baath Party was aided in the coup by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in order to ensure that a pro- Western government ruled Iraq. The Baath Party was quickly overtaken nine months later in another coup by military officers, it regained power in 1968. This time, the party was more organized, led by a group of Sunni Arabs from the Iraqi town of Tikrit who were united by tribal and family ties. Saddam Hussein was part of this Sunni tribe from Tikrit. Indeed, his cousin was Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, the respected military leader who became president of the Baath Party’s new government in Iraq, giving Hussein access to the highest levels of power. Hussein soon became a key figure in the Baath Party, second in power only to President Bakr. For many years Hussein operated behind the scenes as the ruthless commander of this Baath Party security system, helping the party to establish a repressive dictatorship throughout Iraq. His first step in this role was to execute fourteen men that the Baath Party did not trust, accusing them of being part of an Israeli spy network. Hussein then continued to purge all others who might threaten the power of the party, using tactics of brutality and terror that have become legendary. As time progressed, Saddam Hussein’s power grew. In addition to continuing his focus on security and terror, he increased membership of the Baath Party and surrounded himself with a network of loyal family members by appointing them to positions of importance. He also created his own Popular Army in order to lessen the regular army’s power. At the same time, he became involved in social and economic issues such as land reform and health care, gaining recognition for his concerns for the poor.  Hussein became involved in major issues such as Kurdish rebellions, Shia opposition to the Baath regime, and Iraqi oil. Indeed, as Geoff Simon notes, “Throughout the 1970s and after, Saddam Hussein was a principal architect of Iraqi policies.” After years of fighting between the Kurds and the Iraqi government, Hussein in 1975 suppressed the Kurdish uprising by negotiating an agreement with Iran that cut off vital Iranian support for the Kurds. Despite his brutality, therefore, Hussein created stability and some measure of national identity for Iraq.

Bibliography:

1.  Wisnewski, J. Jeremy, ed. (18 December 2008). Torture, Terrorism, and the Use of Violence (also available as Review Journal of Political Philosophy Volume 6, Issue Number 1). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 175. ISBN 978-1-4438-0291-8.

2.  Stevenson, ed. by Angus (2010). Oxford dictionary of English (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-957112-3.

3.  White, Jonathan R. (1 January 2016). Terrorism and Homeland Security. Cengage Learning. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-305-63377-3.

4.  "The Illusion of War: Is Terrorism a Criminal Act or an Act of War? – Mackenzie Institute". Mackenzie Institute. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 2017-04-29.

5.  Ronald Reagan, speech to National Conservative Political Action Conference Archived 20 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine. 8 March 1985.

6.  Chaliand, Gerard. The History of Terrorism: From Antiquity to al Qaeda. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.

7.  Irish Freedom, by Richard English Publisher: Pan Books

8.  Mousseau, Michael (2002). "Market Civilization and its Clash with Terror". International Security

9.  Mark Aarons (2007). "Justice Betrayed: Post-1945 Responses to Genocide." In David A. Blumenthal and Timothy L. H. McCormack (eds). The Legacy of Nuremberg: Civilising Influence or Institutionalised Vengeance? (International Humanitarian Law). Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 9004156917

10.         Cronin, Audrey Kurth (2009). How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns. Princeton U. Pr. ISBN 978-0-691-13948-7.