Reply #9: To add to this [View All]

[Malikshah]

They played God save the King when they installed Faysal.

Faysal had been the chosen leader of an independent Arab state in Syria--only catch was that Syria had been given to the French as a mandate--Gen Gourard made short work of Faysal--he ended up in exile.

Thus, when the revolts in Iraq took place, the British public had had enough (right after WWI and all folks) and the Brits needed a solution quick. Thus-- Constitutional Monarchy...

Can we say replay of history in terms of themes here.

Other tidbit--

Yes it was a constitutional monarchy--but those who were in power were never "of the majority" it was not a representation of the Iraqi populace by any stretch of the imagination--of course what democracy is...


Great links-- Hanna Batatu has one of the best books out there on the subject--the hnn links are a great place to start

By the by: Iraq is just one of a number of creations in the region.

All the countries in the region barring Turkey and Iran were creations of others (check the borders--nature abhors a straight line)
Turkey had to fight a war of liberation led by Ataturk
Iran was taken over from the Qajars (a 19th century persian version of the current US regime replete with Haliburtonian concessions) by Reza Khan--later known as Reza Shah--father of Muhammad Reza Shah aka "the Shah of Iran" -- establishing the Pahlavi dynasty 1920's to 1970's--supported in large part by the US, which led to animosity of US by those in the 1970's revolution, taken over by Khomeini--which led to hostage crisis and anti-west rhetoric, which led to our support of Saddam when he invaded which led to Saddam getting away with murder until 1990...sorry--got off on a rant there.

Sorry for the dizzy post...

To sum up-- we are still dealing with the legacy of "nation-building" by outsiders from the early 20th century...