"July 14th, 1958: Iraq’s Day of Infamy" Topic

"An old rifle reposes in a safe at my home – an SMLE No. 1 Mark III*, made in Britain by Birmingham Small Arms in 1935. It is very well-worn; the stock is patched and cracked; it has at least one mismatched serial number. It is not a particularly good or noteworthy example of the type, except in one respect: This rifle bears the Arabic letter jiim – the property mark of the Iraqi Army. It is an artifact of another age: a time before the nightmare of terrorism and war, chemical weapons and genocide, before Saddam Hussein and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It is itself a relic of a troubled and tumultuous time to be sure, but a time that by today's awful standards would almost seem idyllic by comparison, a time when Iraq had some dignity and some hope for the future under the King. But this rifle also represents something else, something dark and tragic and foreboding: this rifle was in the hands of the men that, in a fundamental sense, set in train the tragic chain of events that brought Iraq to where it is today.

Many events and influences brought Iraq to its current tragic state: George W. Bush's decision to invade the country in 2003; Barack Obama's decision to prematurely pull out of the country; Saddam Hussein's rash decision to invade Kuwait in 1990; his arrogant game of cat-and-mouse with the international community over weapons of mass destruction afterward; and a hundred other causes. But in my opinion, the real proximate cause of Iraq's troubles – the single, indispensable event without which Iraq's hideous mutilation of today would never have occurred – was the coup d'état masterminded by Iraqi Army Brigadier General Abd al-Karim Qasim on July 14th, 1958: the so-called "Revolution" where the Iraqi Army murdered its King and his family and, in effect, placed a General on the throne…."
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Armand

Many events and influences brought Iraq to its current tragic state: George W. Bush's decision to invade the country in 2003; Barack Obama's decision to prematurely pull out of the country; Saddam Hussein's rash decision to invade Kuwait in 1990;

I agree … and we see where we are today … but Hindsight is 20/20. Save for Saddam … he was just an idiot … But had GWII not occur, and Saddam and his moronic sons were still around. IMO, things would be much better than they are now. It still would be bad for Iraq and many of it's people, etc. … But NO where near as bad as it is today. I doubt Iraq will ever fully recover from all that is occurring today.

"I doubt Iraq will ever fully recover from all that is occurring today."

Much the same for large swaths of the middleeast.

And add A'stan to that growing list … And the Syrian peace talks are not moving forward. The Rebels refuse to meet face to face with Assad. Not a Good sign. However, the 3 trying to broker the deal, Russia, Turkey and maybe Iran, will continue their attacks on Daesh & AQ … So let's see how that works out. I'm not very hopeful based on all the pasted "successes" …

Plus, if the report is correct, the UN(?) is saying the Iraq forces are committing war crimes in their attempt to eliminate Daesh from Mosul. If those supposed crimes are against Daesh. I see no problem.

So it appears business usual … moslem killing moslem continues …