Just a Gwai Lofun within prescribed limitshttp://justagwailo.com/node/3480/atom/feed2007-08-18T23:29:49-07:00Only A Historical Ignoramus Could Be Surprisedhttp://justagwailo.com/filter/2004/04/10/ignoramus2004-04-10T15:08:51-07:002007-08-18T23:29:49-07:00RichardNiall Ferguson: “What happened in Iraq last week so closely resembles the events of 1920 that only a historical ignoramus could be surprised. It began in May, just after the announcement that Iraq would henceforth be a League of Nations "mandate" under British trusteeship. (Nota bene, if you think a handover to the UN would solve everything.) Anti-British demonstrations began in Baghdad mosques, spread to the Shi'ite holy centre of Karbala, swept on through Rumaytha and Samawa - where British forces were besieged - and reached as far as Kirkuk.”
Ferguson is arguing that looking to Vietnam for a comparison to today is flawed, and that, as in the above quote, Iraq in the 1920s provides an instructive case for the Americans in Iraq now.
]]>Niall Ferguson: “What happened in Iraq last week so closely resembles the events of 1920 that only a historical ignoramus could be surprised. It began in May, just after the announcement that Iraq would henceforth be a League of Nations "mandate" under British trusteeship. (Nota bene, if you think a handover to the UN would solve everything.) Anti-British demonstrations began in Baghdad mosques, spread to the Shi'ite holy centre of Karbala, swept on through Rumaytha and Samawa - where British forces were besieged - and reached as far as Kirkuk.”
Ferguson is arguing that looking to Vietnam for a comparison to today is flawed, and that, as in the above quote, Iraq in the 1920s provides an instructive case for the Americans in Iraq now.