Carve-Up of the Middle East

In the years following WWI, the true intents of the Allies became apparent. Arab nationalistic aspirations were largely ignored, & the newly-formed League of Nations, dominated by the victorious Allies, awarded Britain the mandates" of Palestine, Tran Jordan (Jordan) & Iraq, while France was awarded Syria & Lebanon. Cooperative Arab sheiks were installed as monarchs & artificial borders were arbitrarily drawn up which largely ignored the wishes of the local population, resulting in many problems which still exist today. Lebanon, for example, was created when several diverse & often antagonistic ethnic & religious communities were united, while the Kurdish people were divided amongst Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey & the Soviet Union, & have since suffered severe persecution at the hands of all of these governments.

The Creation of Iraq

Iraq was perhaps the most artificial of all these mandates. It was composed of three minorities, the Sunni & Shiite Muslims & the Kurds, which virtually guaranteed a future of domestic political violence & has been often cited as the reason why Iraq gravitated towards strong dictators & violent changes of regimes throughout its brief history. (22 coups or revolutions have taken place in Iraq since 1920.)
Some of the artificial boundaries created in the Middle East were the result of Western ignorance or indifference, while others were carefully planned to meet the interests of the colonial powers & prevent the new Arab states from ever becoming powerful. Again, a classic case is modern Iraq, whose borders were established at this time. With the exception of its boundary with Iran, all its frontiers are artificial lines in the sand". The present border with Kuwait was actually decided on in 1922 by the British High Commissioner, who ended an argument on the subject by literally drawing a line in the sand & proclaiming it to be the new frontier.
Britain carefully drew Iraq's frontiers to ensure that many of the known oil fields would fall within its boundaries, while at the same time deliberately denying Iraq a port or any kind of access to the Persian Gulf. The British saw in Iraq a potential threat to their own domination of the Gulf & concluded that the best way to keep Iraq weak & dependent on Britain was to create it as a landlocked state. Thus Iraq's coastline was limited to a mere 26 miles & it was forced to share the mouth of the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers, the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, with its historical enemy, Iran. The city of Basra, about 60 miles inland on the Shatt-al-Arab Waterway, was the only port that Iraq had, & even it could be easily blocked by a hostile power at the mouth of the waterway. By contrast, the tiny sheikdom of Kuwait was awarded a coastline of 120 miles & the largest natural harbor in the region. Small wonder that since this time, Iraq has coveted its small neighbor to the South.
Vital to any real understanding of the Iraqi character is an appreciation of how deeply & bitterly they have resented these unnatural boundaries, & how much these perceived injustices have influenced relations with their neighbors. In particular, the Iraq-Kuwaiti border has been disputed by Iraq almost since the date of its inception, with troop buildups & armed clashes occurring on a semi-regular basis over the years. In 1980, Iraq's quest for a deep-water port largely influenced its decision to go to war with Iran. It wanted to seize control of the Southern Iranian Arabic-speaking province of Khuzistan & the entire Shatt-al-Arab waterway, which would give it a secure outlet to the Gulf.
At the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988, Iraq had not only failed to attain these objectives but its only port, Basra, was paralyzed, as shipping that was wrecked during the war had rendered the Shatt-al-Arab waterway unnavigable. To make matters worse, at the outset of the Gulf War, Kuwait had refused Iraqi warships access to a vital sea channel that they shared, for fear of antagonizing Iran. Iraq was convinced more than ever of the necessity of having its own port, & so turned its gaze on its vulnerable southern neighbor, Kuwait. And if they doubted the righteousness of their cause, the Iraqis most likely looked to their past for reassurance & a precedent. They were fully aware that with the exception of two relatively brief periods in history when the Mongols & more recently the British ruled the region, the territory that is now Iraq exercised at least nominal control of Kuwait for hundreds of years.
Of course, in the eyes of the World, Iraq's perception that its borders were inherently inequitable did not constitute a legitimate pretext to invade Kuwait. But whether the invasion was justified or not, to grasp these deeply-felt grievances is to at least partially comprehend Iraq's outlook on the World, its place in it, & why it has acted the way it has in recent years.

British Domination of Iraq & the Middle East

Britain's rule of Iraq in the 1920's can hardly be considered enlightened. From day one the local population actively resisted British domination, & to subdue them the British were to use the same methods that decades later they would condemn. In one rebellion, the British used artillery shells containing poisonous gas with, as the commander of the British forces reported, excellent moral effect". 9,000 Iraqis died in that uprising. Winston Churchill, at that time Colonial Secretary, consistently advocated the use of mustard gas, but for technical reasons, this never happened.
Mass aerial bombardment, known as police bombing", was much more popular & was used continually during the decade not only in Iraq, but in other areas of the British Empire such as India, Sudan, Trans Jordan etc. Rather than send troops into a village & thus incur casualties, the British preferred to bomb the village into submission. Whole villages were literally destroyed for such serious crimes" as nonpayment of taxes. These bombing campaigns were carried on from 1920 until 1932, when Britain finally gave up & granted Iraq full independence.
During the period between the two World Wars, Britain was the most powerful Colonial power in the Gulf & exercised control over the oil fields that were being discovered almost daily. Although most of the French & British mandates were gradually given their independence, it was with a clear understanding that the British oil companies & military bases in the region could continue to operate freely on their soil.

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