Forgotten History - Tuesday, December 5, 2006
"Little known facts and overlooked history"


Iraq as a Monarchy
By Denis Mueller

On October 13, 1932, Iraq became a state and was admitted
to the League of Nations. It still had tremendous problems
with rivalries between the Shia and Sunni Muslims along
with the Kurds and other factions. The Sunni-Shia conflict,
which goes all the way back to 661, made it difficult to
form a political community. The Sunni, who were favored by
the Turks, had more administrative experience so they
dominated the new administration.

The arbitrary borders that divided Iraq caused severe
border disputes between the various factions and other
Arab governments. This was especially true of the land
that would become Kwaitt. The cities of the north and south
were cut off from their traditional trading partners, which
led to an economic depression. The Assyrians in the north
now found themselves citizens of Iraq. They had been given
special treatment by the British, because they were
Christians, and strongly fought for their own country.

They provided a power base for the new country and fought
against tribal loyalties. In 1936, the first military
revolt occurred; there would be many others throughout the
years but the significance of this was that it established
the military as a power in the country. Other reform
elements included socialist and communists who would also
become part of the countries landscape.

The coup was opposed by the nationalists in the army, who
resented a Kurdish element and the Shia who only a few
years earlier had seen their revolt brutally suppressed.
The nationalists were opposed to the British who then saw
fit to invade Iraq and try to restore a government more
friendly to their policies. It was during this time that
Iraq became closer to the Nazi government. The Nazi loaned
planes to Iraq and the monarchy was seen as a British
puppet by the nationalists.

After the British invasion Iraq forced the Iraq government
to side with the allies. But it was an unpopular government
because of laws passed that permitted landlords to make
huge profits out of goods that they sold to the British.
This caused social and economic problems that would surface
in the post-war period and add to the instability of Iraq.

Iraq was bitterly opposed to the partition of Palestine
and sent about 10,000 troops to fight in behalf of the
Palestinians. They were poorly equipped and fared badly
against Israeli troops. The war also had a negative effect
on their economy as Iraq's prosperous Jewish community left
the country. It is estimated that over 120,000 Jews left
Iraq to take the land that was confiscated from the
Palestinians by Israel during the conflict.

Despite large oil payments the Iraqi masses received little
benefit. But the most important policy mistake saw the Iraq
side with the British against their Arab neighbors. Gamal
Abdul Nasser, who had become a powerful leader of Arab
nationalism, was successful in undermining the pro-western
government, which eventually led to its downfall. But, as
we will see, this did not end the conflicts in Iraq. They
were, in a sense, only beginning.