The war in Iraq is the great historical event of the day, and, while it clearly arouses great passions across the country, it may not be all that easy to bring within the confines of a college writing classroom. The issues are so large, so polemical, and, in their own way, rooted in historical, geo-political questions that may be hard to frame. Here we look at one related matter: the utter mess of things the British made when they invaded, occupied, and then tried to build the modern nation of Iraq in the 1920s, after World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire.From All Things Considered (7-8-2003 - 7:47) comes this historical piece:
Britain's experience in Iraq after World War I offers a cautionary tale for the United States and its forces in the country. Like the United States, Britain promised to "liberate" Iraq, not to "occupy" it. As with U.S. forces, British troops were attacked by Iraqis not long after the occupation began. And British forces in Iraq were stretched too thin. NPR's Mike Shuster reports on these and other parallels between then and now.
Here's a short follow-up review (11-5-2003, 3:13) of Shuster's on Toby Dodge's Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation-Building and a History Denied. And here is an interview Scott Simon had with Dodge (11-15-2003, 5:18).
