The Destruction Of An Old Land

The Destruction Of An Old Land
10/11/06

The Land Of the Two Rivers is an ancient place. They say the Garden of Eden was here, where Adam met Eve and frolicked in innocent peace until temptation caused them to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The cities and granaries of ancient Sumer were here, where man perhaps learned to grow crops and become civilised, and built ziggurats to protect themselves from the floods. Babylon may have been the first place where legal codes, which protected citizens and gave them rights, were handed down. It has been the home of, and host to cruel empires and some kinder ones.

Recently it was managed by a leader who lived in palaces with gold bath taps, and presided over a cabinet where most of the ministers wore military uniforms and were very afraid to speak out of turn lest they be taken out and shot. A large number of military officers, and even relatives, who have plotted against the leader, or tried to leave the country for their own safety, or have been suspected of plotting against the leader, were executed over the period of his rule. Rebellions or signs of independence from particular communities were always put down viciously with much bloodshed. Some of the mass graves have been found recently.

Wars against the neighbours. One neighbour was weakened by 'revolution' (or should we call it counter revolution) so he decided to grab some territory. Unfortunately he had not thought of the consequences and launched the two countries into a bloody war that lasted 8 years.
Peace at last. So he decided to grab some more territory in a different direction. This time he grabbed some oil wells and the state which had backed him with money and assistance in his earlier war. Loyalty to his friends was not even a slight consideration.

He made wild promises about what he could do for the Palestinians, but he was miles away, attacking fellow Arabs. He just got the Palestinians into more trouble. The dictator was not a negotiator. He was not the man to gain the trust of anyone, whether West, Arab, Muslim, Israel. Just a wrecker.

There were many who said it was none of outsider nations' business to interfere with the leader's prerogatives. The leader should be enabled to allow international weapons inspectors to investigate the nation's factories and warehouses at his own whim and speed. The leader seemed to appreciate that the outsider nations could not trust him. He never thought that a line drawn in the sand or a date set for full declaration could ever be a real deadline. A couple of outsider nations called his bluff, armies were massed and the leader found himself defeated, his nation overrun.

Now the dictator has been removed. There is a power vacuum. No one is strong enough to rule. Many groups feel they cannot trust a government, certainly not a representative one elected by the people and representing some coalition and compromise of power. No they want to rule their own streets or their own section. So the nation may soon be no more, like Lebanon, which divided into splinters for many years and may do again soon if the signs are to be believed.

Twisted young fighters minds. They claim the Americans are responsible for the occupation, for torture and maltreatment, but who sets the bombs that kill countless would-be recruits to army and police, who kills Shiites in the middle of the night, and clears them out of their parts of the towns and cities? Who is dividing their own country into sectional and religious factions? And why? Is there a useful purpose to this?