← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Ed Toner
Thread ID: 13525 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2004-05-04
2004-05-04 17:03 | User Profile
[url]http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1918p/mesopo.html[/url] 22 August, 1920 A Report on Mesopotamia by T.E. Lawrence
Ex.-Lieut.-Col. T.E. Lawrence, The Sunday Times, 22 August 1920
[Mr. Lawrence, whose organization and direction of the Hedjaz against the Turks was one of the outstanding romances of the war, has written this article at our request in order that the public may be fully informed of our Mesopotamian commitments.]
The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiques are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows. It is a disgrace to our imperial record, and may soon be too inflamed for any ordinary cure. We are to-day not far from a disaster.
The sins of commission are those of the British civil authorities in Mesopotamia (especially of three 'colonels') who were given a free hand by London. They are controlled from no Department of State, but ....................
2004-05-04 18:34 | User Profile
Ed,
I wonder if one of the 'three colonels' referred to in this document is Winston Churchill, the creator of this mess?
2004-05-04 20:55 | User Profile
Possible.
A Report on Mesopotamia by T.E. Lawrence August 2nd, 1920 Thomas Edward (T.E.) Lawrence, a.k.a. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1888-1935), British soldier and author, whose works include The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, achieved world renown for his exploits as Britain's military liaison to the Arabs during the rebellion against the Ottomans. Sent to Mecca on a fact-finding mission when the Arabs rose in revolt, in 1916, he soon became a friend of the Arab people and their struggle for independence is chronicled in his book, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as well as Revolt in the Desert.
The sellout of the Arabs at Versailles, and the subsequent carving up of the Ottoman Empire by the victorious European powers, disgusted him, and he returned to England disheartened. In protest, Lawrence refused to accept medals from the King, and wrote numerous letters to the newspapers in favor of Arab independence. When British attempts to impose colonial rule on Iraq failed ââ¬â in a way that, by the account below, seems awfully familiar ââ¬â Winston Churchill asked Lawrence to help him draft a settlement.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[url]http://www.amconmag.com/2004_05_10/buchanan.html[/url]
May 10, 2004 issue
Copyright é 2004 The American Conservative
Fallujah: High Tide of Empire? by Pat Buchanan
At Versailles, 1919, Lloyd George, having seized oil-rich Iraq for the empire, offered Woodrow Wilson mandates over Armenia and Constantinople. ââ¬ÅWhen you cease to be President we will make you Grand Turk,ââ¬Â laughed Clemenceau. As there were ââ¬Åno oil fields there,ââ¬Â writes historian Thomas Bailey, ââ¬Åit was assumed that rich Uncle Sam would play the role of Good Samaritan.ââ¬Â Though unamused, Wilson accepted the mandates. Fortunately, Harding won in 1920 and reneged on the deal. Lloyd George and Churchill were left to face the Turks all by their imperial selves. Had we accepted Constantinople, Americans would have ended up fighting Ataturkââ¬â¢s armies to hold todayââ¬â¢s Istanbul. After 9/11, however, our neoconservatives, who had been prattling on about ââ¬Åglobal hegemonyââ¬Â and a ââ¬Åcrusade for democracyââ¬Â since the end of the Cold War, sold President Bush on their imperial scheme: a MacArthur Regency in Baghdad. And so it is that we have arrived at this crossroads. What Fallujah and the Shiââ¬â¢ite uprisings are telling us is this: if we mean to make Iraq ............