Lessons lost on America

[RUDUing2]

By PETER DUNN
Published Sunday, December 12, 2004
Columbia Daily Tribune

While teaching a recent adult education course on the ancient histories of the so-called "axis of evil" countries of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, I showed the class a copy of my grandfather's citation for gallantry during a river crossing approaching Basra, in southern Iraq. He advanced with the British and Indian troops to capture Baghdad. This "Mention in Dispatches" was sent to the king to commend this British noncommissioned officer for his bravery in the field and was signed in 1917 by Secretary of State for War Winston Churchill. The British are still there, having returned in 1991 and 2003.....

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The citizens of the new country called Iraq did not appreciate the exchange of one occupier for another, nor did they consider themselves liberated. And when in 1920 Iraqis learned that the League of Nations had granted Iraq mandate status under Britain, rather than the independence they had been led to expect, the country exploded into the same kind of brutal guerrilla war facing the United States today. For the first time in history, Sunni and Shiite fighters jointly battled the British and Indian troops. The situation eventually was brought under control after savage fighting that cost both the imperial forces and the Iraqis dearly. In addition to large numbers of British and Indian troops, the British had to resort to the Royal Air Force and weapons of mass destruction - mustard gas - to keep a modicum of control until they withdrew.

The war was widely deplored at home in Britain. Many British soldiers also resented having to fight in Iraq after enduring World War I. One observer with unparalleled knowledge of guerrilla warfare in the region wrote from Baghdad that by intervening militarily, Britain had been led into a trap "from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour." He went on to write to his readers at home that, "They had been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information ... the Baghdad communiqués are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows." He ended by saying, "We are not far from a disaster."

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read the rest at http://www.columbiatribune.com/2004/Dec/20041212Comm009.asp

[Demit]

1. Good article, thanks. The author (retired Air Force colonel) knows what he

is talking about, more's the pity.

[Moderator]

2. Please limit quotations to four paragraphs, per DU rules

Thank you.

[RUDUing2]

3. sorry...changed it...wasn't aware it applied to letters to the editor..

sorry.