Re: Interesting Perspective by a Saddam Hussein Biographer

begin  Andreas Pour's  quote:

| I don't know that she wrote that - she was just making the point, I
| think, that Kuwait was carved out of Iraq by the British.

iraq was carved out of ottoman arabia by the british in 1921; indeed, 
kuwait, separated in 1897, has actually existed as a political entity 
longer than iraq has; before 1921, the area currently called iraq 
was, as had been much of the arab region, locally governed sultanates 
for the most part and under the umbrella of the ottoman empire. while 
the region has been continuously populated for about as long as 
anyplace has, its political status has been as unsettled as any 
region as well. the name iraq, of course, is derived from the city of 
ur, the center of sumerian culture, which is geographically in what 
is modern day iraq but which bears no connection other than 
geographical to the modern political entity of iraq which, again, 
came into existence with the stroke of a pen in 1921. so when 
considering the historical prerogatives, one must remember that as a 
political entity, there's not much history here to play with.

of more interest, really, is the situation that would have come to 
pass had the ottoman empire decided not to side with anyone during 
world war I, or to side with the allies. the turkia al-fata were 
pursuing secular government, and had the empire remained intact and 
run from istanbul, a great deal of the history of the last century 
would surely have been quite different. speculation as to how it 
would have been different, as with speculation as to the unfolding of 
history had the civil war been won by the south, is a useful 
exercise, though without any one likely conclusion.

the rest of your argument is likewise based on claims for which there 
is no supporting evidence.
-- 
dep

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