Iraq: Don’t confuse a good country with a bad war
Mideast expert says today’s problems shouldn’t be blamed on how its borders are drawn
WASHINGTON — Ask most Americans if the U.S. war in Iraq was a bad idea and a majority would say yes — at least in retrospect, according to polls.
But during an upcoming lecture in Albuquerque, a New York University professor will explore the question of whether the formation of Iraq itself a century ago was a bad idea. Her short answer: No, but it’s complicated.
Sara Pursley, author and professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University, will discuss Iraq’s complex history and uncertain future during a lecture at the
UNM Continuing Education Auditorium in Albuquerque on Friday, March 31. The talk is part of the Albuquerque International Association’s lecture series on foreign affairs.
“I’m interested in why so many people of such different political persuasions seem to agree that Iraq’s problems can be explained by the country’s supposed ‘artificiality,’” Pursley told the Journal in an email. “The idea is that the map of Iraq was drawn arbitrarily by the British after World War I and that since these borders do not conform to ethnic and sectarian boundaries they were bound to fail. You find everyone from the Islamic State to the senior officials of the U.S. government saying this, and among American political commentators everyone from Noam Chomsky to Glenn Beck.”
But Pursley, whose first book on
the history of Iraq is under contract with Stanford University Press, said there “are many problems” with that version of history.
“Iraq’s borders were created like the borders of all countries have been created: through war, political conflict, and negotiation,” she said. “It was a long, drawnout process, and it took decades. So why is this story so popular? That’s one question my talk will address. I think the topic matters because the story distracts attention from the actual causes of Iraq’s problems, and thus from possible solutions.”
In ancient times, the area now known as Iraq was called Mesopotamia — the land between the rivers. But in the early 1900’s, the United Kingdom took control and renamed it the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932. In 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created.
In 2003, the U.S. military invaded Iraq and deposed its iron-fisted dictator, Saddam Hussein. Today, the country is mired in sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, and some say Iraq’s sovereignty is threatened by the ISIS terrorist group, although ISIS’ influence appears to be waning.
Pursely declined to predict what the future holds for the war-torn country, but she did say Iraq is likely to stay intact.
“My guess is that Iraq will continue to exist, even if some of its borders are modified,” she said. “In my view, the idea that Iraq is an artificial state is actually a very dangerous one. Following that idea to its logical conclusion leads to one place, and that place is not peace in the Middle East, but rather the violence of ethnic and sectarian cleansing.”