Revolution Reversal? Iraq's History May Be Repeating; Is America Stuck Playing the Role of the Redcoats?
Iraq's History May Be Repeating; Is America Stuck Playing the Role of the Redcoats?
June 13, 2004 — Americans remember and relive 1776, when American patriots fired at Redcoats, battled the British, and created a nation.
Iraq had its patriots, too. In 1920, the British controlled Iraq, and Iraqis also fired at British troops and began their fight for independence.
"The 1920 revolt is the great myth of Iraqi history," says Toby Dodge, a Middle East historian. "It's what every Iraqi school kid is taught. This is when your country was born. This is when your great-grandfather rose up and tried to kick the British out in the first moment of Iraqi nationalism."
And just as we remember Valley Forge and 1776, Iraqis remember Baghdad and 1920. At a demonstration this year, an Iraqi crowd chanted, "We will start the revolution of 1920 again."
The 1920s mattered to Iraqis. The Shiites remember it one way, the Sunnis another way. But how they remember their great revolt may have a lot to do with the fate of the current Iraq war in 2004.
‘Liberators’
During World War I, the British invaded Iraq — then known by its biblical name, Mesopotamia — moving pretty much up the route the Americans took 86 years later. At the time, the area was ruled by the Ottoman Turks.
But the British were able to rout the Turks and declare Iraq a free country. In his first proclamation from Baghdad, the conquering British general, Stanley Maude, said: "Our armies do not come in your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators. I am commanded to invite you to participate in the management of your own civil affairs."
The mission, Maude said, was to prepare Iraq for statehood and democracy.
But once the British took over, there were problems. The locals weren't all that cooperative. The British weren't all that sensitive. Whatever the reason, after two years, there had been no new constitution and no new election.
When the British proposed a tax, the Iraqis said no. Instead, they fought the British.
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