There’s a growing anti-American sentiment across the globe. From the Middle East, to Southeast Asia, to Africa and even in Europe, reports of demonstrations in other countries where American flags are being burned and protesters scream insults , lambasting America’s leaders, capitalistic agendas and people. Likewise, when the name ‘Iraq’ or ‘Iraqi’ is mentioned in conversation here IN America, the usual tone is of resentment & disgust toward Saddam Hussein, the Persian Gulf War and the current Iraq conflict. Too often, I think the general consensus of opinion wrongly associates the morals and ethics of a people, with those of its leaders. Throughout history, the people and culture in the land we now know as Iraq have been subjected to invading empires and oppressive regimes. But what most people don’t know, is that Iraqis have been at the forefront of technology and cultural advances since the beginning of man. The boundaries of modern Iraq is almost equivalent to Mesopotamia., the region which is commonly referred to as the Cradle of Civilization.
From a Biblical perspective, this is the land in which God placed Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden:
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon, it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gibon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel (Tigris); it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Noah (the guy who built the ark) was from the city Fara which is in Iraq. Abraham, a central figure in Judaism, Christianity and Islam was from Ur of the Chaldees which is in Iraq and the famous city of Babylon ‘meaning Gate of God’ is in Iraq. This region was the birthplace of the varied civilizations that moved us from prehistory to history. An advanced civilization flourished in this region long before that of Egypt, Greece and Rome, for it was here in about 4000 BC that the Sumerian culture flourished.
The ancient Sumerians, using the fertile land and the abundant water supply of the area, developed sophisticated irrigation systems and created what was probably the first cereal agriculture as well as the earliest writing form, cuneiform - a way of arranging impression stamped on clay by the wedge-like section of chopped off reed stylus into wet clay. Through writing, the Sumerians were able to pass on complex agricultural techniques to successive generations. By 3000 BC the script involved into a full syllabic alphabet. The commerce of the times is recorded in great depth. Double entry accounting practices were found to be a part of the records. This remarkable innovation has been used to this day, as a standard for record keeping. Sumerians invented the wheel and the first plow in 3700 BC. Sumerians developed a math system based on the numeral 60, which is the basis of time in the modern world.
After the collapse of the Sumerian civilization in 1700 BC, the region went through numerous invasions and conquerors, from King Hammurabi, to the Cassites, The Assyrians, Nebuchadnezzar I & II (who built the Hanging Gardens, one of the 7 wonders of the world), Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great (who died in Iraq in 323 BC), the Persian Empire, Arab Muslims, Genghis Kahn and the Mongol invasion all subjected the Iraqi people to their own rules, codes and agendas.
Some people may wonder, “How did a culture so rich and advanced get into the hands of Saddam Hussein?” Saddam is just one man along a long line of oppressors over the people of Iraq. Saddam was chosen successor to the president, Ahmed Hasan Al-Bakr in 1979. Being a shrewd and ruthless politician, he immediately purged all of his political rivals to assure his position. Almost immediately after assuming his leadership position, Saddam instigated the Iran-Iraq war, which lasted over 8 years with an estimated 1 million lives lost. Saddam’s name didn’t appear on the forefront of American awareness until Iraq’s 1991 invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent Gulf War which followed.
Our American forces are currently in Iraq, doing their best to rebuild the country’s infrastructure (politically and structurally), while the hunt is on for Saddam and his controversial ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’. My prayers go out to the Iraqi people. For they are the ones that had to cower in fear under the ruthless hand of Saddam and his regime. They are the ones who had to seek refuge and shelter when the bombs started dropping over Baghdad. They are the ones who have to struggle everyday to find means of commerce and employment. They are the ones who have to search daily for clean water and shelter after the bombings crippled their water purification system and facilities. Let’s all hope the American powers that be remember, that the rebuilding of Iraq should first and foremost be focused on the Iraqi people and not the Iraqi oil.
Sources:
Kedourie, Elie. "Continuity and Change in Modern Iraqi History,"
Asian Affairs [London], June 1975, 140-146.
Roux, George. Ancient Iraq. Cleveland: World Publishing,
1965.
Longrigg, Stephen Hemsley. Four Centuries of Modern
Iraq. London: Oxford University Press, 1925.
