George Bush's new imperialism

The Bush administration's plan to invade Iraq and install a client regime in Baghdad may be popular in America, but to the outside world it increasingly recalls old-fashioned British imperialism.

If administration hawks studied Iraq's gory history, they would learn it ranks among the most disastrous and tragic creations of Britain's colonial policy, and offers a grim reminder of what George Bush's planned "regime change" in Baghdad may bring.

At the end of World War I, the victorious British and French fell like wolves on the rotting carcass of the defeated Ottoman Empire. After promising Arabs independence, Britain betrayed them, dividing the ex-Ottoman Mideast into weak states run from London. Oil had recently been discovered at either end of the Fertile Crescent: in the north around Mosul in Kurdish tribal territory, and in southern marshes bordering Iran. To secure oil for the Royal Navy, Britain created Iraq and put a puppet king, Faisal, on its throne. Faisal was to have been made king of Syria, but France managed to snatch Syria away from Britain.

Frankenstein state

To form Iraq, Britain knitted together three utterly disparate, mutually hostile regions: Kurdish tribal lands; the Sunni Muslim region around Baghdad, then a small city with a predominantly Jewish and Christian population; and the Shia south. The result was an unstable, artificial, Frankenstein state - a Mideast Yugoslavia.

In 1920, Iraqis rose in revolt against Britain but were crushed. The Royal Air Force routinely bombed, strafed, and even used poison gas against rebellious Kurdish and Shia tribesmen. Nineteen years later, King Ghazi I threatened to invade Kuwait - part of historic Iraq until detached by British oil imperialists. He died soon after in a mysterious car crash, the work, Iraqis said, of British intelligence.

In 1941, Iraqis again rebelled against their British masters, but were crushed by RAF bombers. After World War II, London put a new king, Faisal II, on the throne. But real power was wielded by Britain's man in Baghdad, Prime Minister Nouri as-Said. The U.S. and Britain forced Iraq to join the anti-Soviet Baghdad Pact and sell its oil to the West at give-away prices.

To prevent a coup, the small Iraqi Army was denied ammunition. British troops and the RAF kept Faisal in power. But in July, 1958, a colonel named Kassem convinced Nouri to allow his men a few rounds of ammunition for training. Kassem marched out of Baghdad, turned around, marched back, and stormed the palace. King Faisal II was executed. Nouri as-Said tried to escape, disguised as a woman. He was captured by a mob, castrated and hanged from a lamppost. Kassem ordered British troops out of Iraq, and withdrew from the hated Baghdad Pact.

Col. Kassem turned out to be a murderous lunatic, executing thousands of Iraqis and bombing the Kurds. He threatened to invade Kuwait and was only stopped when Britain massed troops in its protectorate.

Five years later, Kassem was overthrown by Nasserite officers and machine-gunned on national TV. Col. Abdul Salam Aref took power, with discreet help from the CIA and British Intelligence, MI6.

Three years later, Col. Aref was assassinated by a bomb in his helicopter. His brother, Col. Abdul Rahman, took power, but he was overthrown by a cabal of officers from the underground Baath party, led by Gen. Hassan al-Bakir. A young Baath party enforcer named Saddam Hussein played a significant role in the coup, and was said to have had links to the CIA and MI6.