Interesting Points
1. The central Post Office in Baghdad announced in the local media that there are letters and parcels belong to Saddam Hussien. The PO called for him to came or send some one to collect his parcels! This man used to create museums for his gifts. Now, the wrath of God by the sword of America made him to hide from his own mail.
2. The international TVs showed thugs dancing on the bodies of the Spanish dead in Iraq! OK so the Iraqi police and the CPA got the pictures of those who outlaw themselves. Have these authorities gone a head and arrested these thugs? If not are they going to do or not? If not why? Strange isn't it. Like the mail of Saddam it should be confiscated and searched because it belongs to a criminal fugitive.
3. 29 international media groups and companies compete for one of the largest projects of rebuilding Iraq. It is the 200 millions dollars worth TVs and radio broadcasts for Iraq. BBC and 20 American companies prepare there cases.
Comments on the Current Events
1. Unlike the US president, who never even left the main military site at Baghdad airport during his 2.5 hrs visit, Mrs. Hillary Clinton met many non-government and government people of Iraq as well as the US troops.
2. It is understandable that Mr Bush visit to Baghdad was top secret journey. It was a unique experience for the White House and the US presidents and planned very well from the point of the departure and all the way through. I think Mr Bush learned from Saddam the game of hiding to avoid danger and death but he should have been gone all the way through like Mrs Clinton.
3. The Italian and German Authorities have arrested what thought to be top leaders in a network group related to Al Qaeda who may have a major role in recruiting suicidal terrorist for Iraq. Then they send them to Syria and Istanbul and then to Iraq. Those arrested are Algerian, Moroccan and a Tunisian woman. In Syria they released the name of the person who organizes the transportation. This seems to be a complex new mafia of making money from brain washing ignorant people to make them terrorists and send them to kill and be killed while the money go to the pockets of those who make the transportation and so on.
4. Fox news reported that the Iraqi police may have helped in coordinating some of the attacks in Baghdad. I think it is better not to send the Iraqi police to get trained in Jordan which is another totalitarian state and its own people including the police force like Saddam regime. Who know what would happen to the Iraqi police men who were send for training in that country. Jordan also provides safe heaven to many of Saddam family and his regime. I think the Iraqi police should be trained in Iraq and not in countries with bad human rights records.
5. Six Spanish Intelligence Agents killed in Baghdad today. No comment!
6. News rumor that Saddam start to get tired from his hiding and some of his supporters are willing to get the prize of 25 millions dollars. Same thing applied for (Abo Al-Thaleg).
Attention of the Governing Council and the CPA
There is a serious difficulty related to those who were expelled from Iraq to Iran in 1980s and returned back recently. Some of them had confiscated properties and alleged it belongs to them.
Back in 1970s and 1980s the tyrant regime expelled thousands of Iraqis from an Iranian background or accusing them to be so to Iran. The regime confiscated and sold their properties. These properties then sold to too many other peoples from one to another. The new owners don't know about the background of these properties because no one dare to inform about it during the previous regime.
Following the collapse of the regime hundreds of the expelled Iraqis came back from Iran and confiscated many properties claming that it belongs to them! Most of them are still living in Iran, so after they confiscated the properties they rented them &/or asked one of their relative to guard it and went back to Iran!
The GC should deal with this problem before it is getting worse and too late and should act now to prevent any unwanted outcomes.
We highly sympathize with those who had been expelled but also with those who paid their money to buy the properties and kept them in a good state instead of being demolished simply by the previous regime. The problem should not be solved by the returned individuals themselves by confiscation. It should be dealt with by a specific law first to prove the situation of the claimant and to compensate one side the value of the property which goes or stays with the other side. Other than this any one could come and claim any property he desires and take it by force.
The GC as well as the CPA should be very vigilant about clandestine agents coming from neighbor countries. The Iraqis who were expelled by Saddam to Iran and confiscated properties after their return operates outside the law especially if they are still living in Iran, a case which raise too many doubts. Their work should be reversed now until proper mechanism set out to solve these problems legally. These properties should go back immediately to the current owners. Iraqis who return from Iran and claim to have property taken by Saddam should put a proper request with verified evidence to the GC or its related ministries.
The GC is responsible to deal with this important issue immediately. There should be a compulsory law by which:
1. No one allowed confiscating any property by force at all and if he does so the local authority should use its power to stop it. If not stopped the power of the law should arrest him and he should be held responsible for his unlawful act. This should be applied retrospectively on all cases.
2. There should be a special group from lawyers and specialist in each city to deal specifically with claims. Any returned person can put his case to them.
3. Documents should be submitted from both sides
4. If the possession of the property then confirmed for the expelled person before he or she barred and the existing owner bought it from some one else then the choice will be for either side to accept money compensation according to the value of the property at the present time.
5. The money of the value should be paid instantaneously and the tenure fixed to the other party.
6. The government then should track the first owner after the expulsion of the original owner to see if he was a confiscating Baath party or security member or just another innocent person who bought it from the government. If he is a Baath or security member and the property had been given to him free after the expulsion, so benefited from its money then he should be put into a trial and should pay the price at the present time. This price then goes toward the government replacing the previous pay. This should not affect the process of dealing with the present parties i.e. the current owner and the returned claimant.
The GC should put a mechanism to enforce the law not only on the paper. The law should be made clear and delivered to the people by all the reachable media to get through to every one. The power of the law then should be applied on every one irrespective of who is he or she. Only by this the GC will be able to get the admiration of the people of Iraq and Iraq will get its place with the well civilized nations in the world.
THE LAW SHOULD BE ABOVE EVERY ONE IRRESPECTIVE OF ANY THING
THE LAW AND THE LAW AND THE LAW
The Savor of Freedom
At last, telephone communication to Iraq can go throw now.
Incredible; for the first time since 20 years one can talk generously to his parents, brothers, sisters, family and friends with out the fear of being tapped by Saddam Security Services. During Saddam regime the only thing that any Iraqi may say to his family is just (hello; how are you and we are fine). Who dare to utter any thing about the regime or even bring up the name of the tyrant? It was very hard to obtain a call to Iraq as the regime set the lines in a queue to be able to snoop on and trace them. You may have to dial for some time up to several days to get through.
Though it is joyful to talk unreservedly now but some of the news was depressing. Lots of relatives and friends who vanished at some stage during the previous regime or supposed to be outside the country had been found executed according to the reports of the (Moukhabarat) the security. They smuggled some of the Iraqis from Kuwait and Jordan back to Iraq and killed them.
Current News about Iraq
1. The CPA announced that the work started in the Iraqi Embassies in 44 countries. The most important is to clean up all the diplomatic offices from the members of the previous regime.
2. Saddam visited one of the cities in the Sunni area according to the Sunday Times. His host was a Sheikh benefited from his regime. He also had a meeting for the Baath party during his visit. He refused to take a picture with a boy who requested that and told him that he will take lot of pictures after liberation of Iraq. I think the Sunday Times lied to its readers.
3. CPA cancelled all non-military flights to Baghdad Airport after the DHL plain rocket attack. DHL also cancelled all its flights to Baghdad until the security situation reviewed. (BBC)
4. US Jets strike targets in the city of Samara north west Baghdad on Sunday 2003-11-23 (Arab News daily)
5. Some outside smugglers trying to smuggle 3 millions tons of scraped steel from Iraq (Al Sharq Al Awsat)! Who is responsible for that and where is the new ministry from it?
6. Warning: Donkeys may be terrorist though they are ashamed to be so! In more than one time rockets have been lunched from donkeys pulled carriages against Palestine hotel, Sheraton and the Ministry of Oil in Baghdad (Azzaman).
7. The IP (Iraqi Police) trying to stop Iranian secret agents from infiltration by doing training on the borders (Azzaman) .
8. The first ambassador for the new Iraq is in Washington. Rind Rahim Francke become the first Ambassador for the new Iraq. She is an Iraqi-American woman led the Iraq Foundation, a Washington-based pro-democracy group, and has helped in post-Saddam Hussein planning. Good luck Rind and try to change the picture of Iraq as a civilized democratic state and as an example of democracy for the Middle East. (New York times)
9. One of the Terrorist in Iraq told (according to Al Sharq Al Awasat):
"I hate the Iraqis more than the Americans due to their negative action against the American and I like to see the Iraqis and the Iraq destroyed". Go to hell you and all the terrorist and the new Iraq will work against terrorism with its friends including the USA and the UK.
10. Tomorrow the first day of Eid in Iraq according to Al-Jazeera news. How and who decide the Eid & the lunar month?
A question for the GC??
The Environmental Crime of the Century
Saddams crimes are countless but one of the biggest among them is the destruction of the land of the Cradle of Civilization and the historic life of its people (see my first article below).
The Mesopotamian marshlands are the largest wetlands in the Middle East, covering over 7500 square miles - an area larger than the Florida Everglades.
The marshy land around the area where Euphrates meets Tigris in the Southern of Iraq remained a safe heaven not only for the man but also for so many other species like birds, fishes, wild pigs, buffalos, reeds, rushes, papyrus, nice water lilies and many other water life. It is among the most important areas for migration of up to 70 species of birds and offers support for some threatened species.
Since the beginning of history the people who have lived there remained self sufficient;
they use reed, palm dates leaf, rushes and papyrus to construct their houses.
A group of houses form a small village in the middle of the marsh (Hawr in Arabic). Each one of these houses or a couple of them stands on a peace of land surrounded by water. Initially you will be astonished how these small beautiful Islands formed, but soon you will discover that they are actually an artificial islands created by the people from reed and clay.
There is beautiful area called Chibaiesh sited between Fohood and Qorna. Chibaiesh means the floating ports or the floating lands. The innovation of floating ports first came from the Sumerians to park their cargo ships there.
These artificial islands housed both, the families and their livestock including the water buffalos and cows. They use fishes and birds as their main food. They produce wheat flower, dates, milk, cheese, cream, honey dates and so many others. They don't waste things e.g. if the fishing season is good they will dry fishes and store it for some other time. They recycle every thing possible even the excreta of their animals like cows and buffalos to use it in making fires for different purposes including cooking and heating. They also export the surplus of their products to other parts of Iraq.
The unique culture of marsh Iraqis has remained the same for more than 5000 years. Many of the habits, names, tools, transport, and other things are the same as those which were used at the time of Sumer 5000 years ago. For example the storage place for grains called (Sedana) which is a round barrel produced from clay with a cover from clay or palm dates leaf is still being used. Another example is the Mashhof which is the Sumerian name for their little Taxi the small boat.
Wilfred Thesiger a British Geographer and writer who lived with the people there in 1950s and again 1970s wrote a very nice book about them. I think he stayed for 2 or 3 years in the marshes, if I am right. Many other archeologist and writers produced unique studies about the area.
The collective features of the marshes of Iraq make it a very rich region for tourist purposes. I am sure many around the world who love history, nature, and adventure will enjoy coming to see that nice piece of earth. Its extremely quiet nights, dazzling stars and clear sky make one feel closer to the heaven than to the earth.
This land has been destroyed by Saddam starting in 1980s. Syria and Turkey have their share in the destruction since 1950 due to their dams but their role is less compared to the deliberative act of Saddam after 1990.
What happened to the Land of First Civilization?
In March 2003 The United Nations Environment Programmers Division of Early Warning and Assessment showed that 93% of the Mesopotamia Marshes had disappeared and only contain a handful of the species that once made the area home. The marshlands that once acted like a giant water-treatment system that released clean water to the Arabian Gulf are now nearly 20,000 square kilometers of desert.
After the 1990 uprising against Saddam, he diverted the water from the marshes by producing many major canals and dams, dedicating huge resources to this destruction and despite the overwhelmed economy at the time. This resulted in a massive population collapse from up to 450,000 to less than 10,000 in the marshes. They were driven to other parts of Iraq and Iran or killed by the regime leaving thousands of years of history behind them. The result is a catastrophe to the people, animals and plants.
Many people who love nature and history have called for the restoration of the marshes of Mesopotamia. Plans are in place to revive this beautiful region; this is not an easy task and faces very complicated scientific and political challenges especially with Syria and Turkey to allow the water flow. I am not specialized in this subject but I love this land so much for its beauty and history.
Interesting articles about the subject:
1.
Nice Pictures
2.
Modern Sumerians
3.
New hope for Iraqi marshes
4.
TED Case studies
5.
Assault on the marshes
6.
Back to Eden
7.
Iraqs Eden: reviving the legendary marshes
New Recorded Voice Tape for Saddam in Al-Arabyiah TV
Al-Arabyiah TV broadcasted a new recorded statement for Saddam today. They told he gave it to their TV station in specific. He added nothing but cursed his foes and their mischief and asked for paradise to his martyrs. The same TV station told that President Bush describe this as propaganda.
The question is where this TV station got the tapes from? Who give it and where? Why Al-Arabyiah TV put a back ground music when broadcast it? Same thing applied to Al-jazeera TV in broadcasting to Saddam and Bin Laden.
From Al-Jazeera TV today I heard that in Moosal north Iraq where the crash of the USA Helicopters occurred that there are 2 streets named after Al-Fulojah as Fulojah 1 and 2!
Any one can read very clearly the joy in the eyes of the broadcasters in these channels when they present a news a bout the coalition forces or Iraqis killed in a bomb or so. Some time they film these incidents live. How and who told them about it to go to the scene? We know that there should be freedom in the media, but it should not be biased. It is even worse if this bias could lead to blood shed, life losses and destructions.
The propaganda of these TV stations and their alike are the same gung of the Arab media of 1950s but by using the oil money to buy new technology from their foe the USA and the West. What is the meaning; when Al-Jazeera presents a report about the above crash then shifting the subject on the name of the 2 street? It is nothing but serving an aim which is shared between them and those who put the name. Can this channel tell us how long is this street and in which area it is and who named it?
I wonder whether there is any thing in the international law which may prevent these TV stations and their government from being propaganda to the evils.
Why Ahmed Al Chalabi member of the GC offers 100 millions Dinars to Jordan?!
In an
article in Arabic published in Elaph today Said that Mr Chalabi accepted to pay 100 millions Dinars to Jordan in return of closing the allegations of the Jordanian government against Chalabi regarding the scandle of the Al Batra Bank. Mr Chalabi was the manager of that Bank more than 10 years ago when the Jordanian government accused him of fraud. He then was sentenced in abstentia for at least 22 years imprisonment after he left Jordan.
After the fall of Saddam regime the Jordanian media and its government resurrected and escalated the issue. Mr Chalabi stayed definite and rejected all the allegations and said that the government in Jordan falsely accused him due to his positions against Saddam who pushed Jordan against him.
If the above article is true, then, why Mr Chalabi accepted to pay them 100 millions Dinar now if he was innocent?! If this is true he should first explain his position to the Iraqi people. On the same time is he as a member of GC going to ask the Jordanian government to return the stolen Iraqi money by the previous regime members and family. How many millions Saddam daughters escaped with to Jordan?
Generally speaking if the Iraqis like to be free and like to have a democratic system like the one in the USA, UK, Japan and other Democratic states including the only Democratic Middle East state Israel, they should hold any one account of his work. And any one should submit a clearance of criminal record in the past before holding any job especially high ranking jobs.
I think after the previous hardship for the last 100 years especially the Saddam era, Iraqis should accept
no one should be above the LAW.
Iraq's Neighbors
Damascus meeting about the security of Iraq attended by Syria, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, & Turkey, born dead not because they called Iraq to attend in the last moment and Iraq refused but because these states and other Iraqi Neighbors like UAE do opposite to what they say. They say that the security in Iraq is important for them (which is a fact) but they do exactly the opposite.
Take an example UAE, Jordan, & Syria all of the government of these states offer a safe heaven to the members of the previous regime with millions of stolen Iraqi money. They with these money act to provide various help and roles in the terrorist and criminal attacks in Iraq. These people escaped from Iraq after or just before the fall of the previous regime and given flexible facilities to work the stolen money in many different ways.
All the Iraq neighbors states calls for an elected government in Iraq but they forget that they themselves have no elected government and all of them are very old dictatorship states.
The media in these countries especially Syria, Al Jazera in Qatar, Al Arabiah in Dubai, Abo Dhabi TVs , Jordan media, Iran media and others offers loudly an encouraging voice to the terrorist in Iraq and even in other regions. Some of these states use big money to feed secret operations in Iraq like Iran.
Many of these states opened their borders and giving passports may be indirectly to the terrorist infiltrating Iraq especially from Syria and Iran and KSA borders.
To stop or reduce the terrorist attacks in Iraq like the one happened against the Italian base last night these states need to stop there support to the previous members of Baath regime and hand them to the Iraqi authorities and frozen their money. They have to abide to the international call to stop the media from supporting the terrorist or face consequences.
If these states and their media stop their negative interferences in Iraq this will cut a big supply to the terrorist in there. I think the international community if will can put big pressure on these states.
About the inside the Baath members give the terrorist safe heaven to do their acts. For those if you cut the head of the snake it will die. So as where is the head. It is Saddam and the other big heads. If those get quick trials and catch the rest the internal safe heaven and organization will vanish quickly.
Freedom and Democracy will abolish Brain Wash
If you ask any well educated Iraqi now what is the best time in the recent history of Iraq
(see Cradle of Civilization below), he or she will tell you it is the 1940s until 1950s.
On the 30th Sep 2003 a ballot published in the Arabic news paper Alhayat done on 500 Iraqis in Baghdad aged between 18 – 26 years old showed two important things.
First in-spite of the big limitation and the brain wash of the previous regime on the Iraqi people especially this age group; they showed that they have clear vision about the political history of their country.
Second is that this vision is very different from what the regime dictated on them (brain washed) and also different from the past thinking of a similar Iraqi man in 1940s & 1950s.
An example about this is the way they answered; what is the best personality for them among different personalities given from 1930 until 2003. The two most popular for them were Noori Al Saaed & Abdolkarem Kasem scoring more than 75% for both and more than 92% say yes for personalities during the 1940s era. Both Saddam & some of his men scored 4% on the bottom of the list.
Alhayat news paper commented to say that the most striking thing in this ballot is that in spite of the brain wash and limitation put by the previous regime to get these youth away from their history, they know very well the political history of their country in a way different from what the regime like them to do. The newspaper wants farther to say that there is a new vision in the way the Iraqis look to their political history. The example is the way they look to Noori Al Saaed
(*), they use to see him as puppet to the British in 1940s while now they see him in a different way.
It is very clear why this change happen, because you compare two eras, one of some sort of democracy and freedom (1940s – 1950s) and the other is a totalitarian dictatorship state.
The above ballot indicates asked also about the favorite academics, artist, poet, clergy man, and others. The result indicates the following:
1. In spite the big prison (Iraq) that the previous regime did for the Iraqis they chose personalities among the Iraqis who live abroad and were successful in their academic life outside Iraq in the West.
2. It clearly showed that they like the wise, flexible, peaceful and experienced clergyman rather than the young fanatics. Example for that is Mr Ali Seysatani in Najaf had 52%, Mohammed Baker Al Hakeem 24% compared to Muqtada Al Sadar who had only 4% and the others had only less than 8%. While there was negative results for the Sheikhs related to the previous regime.
3. When they asked about the example of the academic personality the answers went for those who served the Iraqis and none given for those who served the previous regime.
4. When asked about their example among the poets, Mohammed Mahdi AlJawahri was the top. He was expelled from Iraq by the regime long time ago before they born and died outside Iraq and the regime refused to let him buried there (as far as I know).
Lot of other interesting points but the most important thing is that that most of the Iraqis are live people, able to bare the responsibility of the change towards freedom and democracy and to live in peace with the world as a whole without discrimination as far as they decide and not a dictator decide and dictate on them.
(*) Noori Al Saaed (1888-1958)
Noori Saaed Mulah Taha Al Karagholi born in Baghdad and went into military school in Baghdad then graduated from the Astanah Military School in turkey in 1909 and the College of War in Turkey. He joined the Balkan war 1912-1913 and the revolt of Hussein in Hijaz, where he was one the main leader. He entered Damascus with King Faisal Bin Hussein. He had long experience in the political work and was the primeminster for 10 times in Iraq the first was in 1930. He was pro-British and attended the round table to discuss the Palestine issue in London in 1939. Adolf Hitler contacted him several times trying to change his mind regarding his support to the British policies during the WW-II but refused. He was a strong leader. He put the issue of uniting Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan in one state (The Green Crescent) to the UN and he is first one to suggest the formation of the Arab League when he was the Iraqi ambassador in Cairo. He convinced the Egyptian primeminster Mahmood Fahmi Basha about his idea in 1941. He negotiated to put Iraq in the Baghdad Pact which included Great Britain, Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan and he tried to convince India to join this pact.
He was killed after the 14th July 1958 change by Abdalkrem Kaseem after an interesting story of his escape. His dead body was crushed under the wheels of a big Tank then burned with fire.
The American and British government declared that his death was great loss for them.
He had many books in politics.
Sam
Lot of news coming from Iraq indicates that many of the Baath members from the previous regime appointed in important posts with the new ministries like the Ministry of Electricity and Educations.
Also some of the previous members of the secret police and inelegances like “Mokhabarat” appointed in new important positions.
We don’t know what the new Ministers are doing and why there is no trials for those who committed genocides and crimes against the Iraqis and the Humanity.
S H
The Cradle of Civilization
Sumer, Akkad, Babylon & Assyria are the out come of the first civilization which moved from prehistory to history in the Mesopotamia present Iraq. An advanced civilization flourished in Sumer long before that of Egypt, Greece & Rome. It is deep-rooted civilization had fostered humanity from its affluent fountain for thousands of years. Now Iraq contains the world's richest known archaeological sites.
Mesopotamia was a land of lush vegetation, abundant wildlife, & copious water resources. By 6000 B.C., many people migrated from neighboring areas into its water rich land where the Tigers meet Euphrates in the South.
The civilized life emerged in Sumer was shaped by the unpredictable devastating floods of the two rivers & the deposit of soil to make a low level fertile Marshy land.
For the first time in history, the Sumerian people learned to grow surplus food. As surplus production increased and as collective management became more advanced, a process of urbanization evolved and Sumerian civilization took root in the Southern Iraq.
The Sumerians were highly innovative people who responded creatively to the challenges of nature. They innovated many great legacies to the humanity, such as writing, irrigation, the wheel, astronomy, & literature.
The Sumerian Great Legacies
1. Writing: The first letter in history was written in Sumer as a pictograms (simplified pictures on clay tablets), gradually they created the Cuneiform writing which contains phonetic & syllabic, elements providing a flexible way of communication. Through writing, the Sumerians were able to pass on knowlege & exprience to successive generations; this led to marked improvements in agricultural production & science advancment.
2. Literatures: Recording of poetry, epics, events & history was started by the Sumerians. The famous Sumerian
Epic of Gilgamesh has survived in almost the complete form. Laden with complex abstractions & emotional expressions, the epic of Gilgamesh reflects the intellectual sophistication of the Sumerians, & it has served as the prototype for all Near Eastern inundation stories.
3. Religion: The precariousness of existence in southern Mesopotamia led to a highly developed sense of religion. Cult centers like Eridu, 5000 B.C., served as important centers of pilgrimage & devotion. These cult centers emerged in most Sumerian cities, thus reinforcing the close relationship between communities & people with important political aspects. A powerful priesthood emerged to oversee ritual practices.
The priests ruled from the temples, (ziggurats) which were essentially artificial mountains of sun-baked brick, built with outside staircases that tapered toward a shrine at the top.
4. Civil Rules: Sumerian considered that all properties belong to God & land rentals, agricultural questions, trade, commercial relations, & war were determined by law. Unlike Egypt where Pharaoh used to own every thing including the people & properties as the living God, in Sumer the Royalty were no difference from the people & they are questionable by them. The Summerian used to believe in private property & any one including the Royalty may bargain for their own goods. The Sumerian society was a "Matriarchal" & women had a highly respected place in the community.
5. The Math system: The Sumerian care for the wellbeing of the community led to close observation of the scientific phenomena which led to innovation of the basic unit of calculation & numbers. They developed a math system based on the numeral (60) which is the basis of time in the modern world.
6. Time scale: The concept of minutes & hour is Sumerian innovation. The first human calnder was the
Sumerian Calnder.
7. Agricultural system: The first land cultivated by a man was here in the South of Iraq. The Sumerians then developed a highly advanced agricultural system with refined irrigation & water-control systems which was spread to the near & far neighboring countries by the invented Sumerian writing.
8. City’s plans: In Sumer emerged for the first time city planning before building the cities. With advancement of this the Sumerian who lack stones built bricks & achieved marked advancement in the technologies of making bricks. They also the first to use these bricks for roads. Their big cities like Uruk, Eridu, Kish, Lagash, Agade, Akshak, Larsa, & Ur attracting many immigrant who are looking for more settled & prosperous life to go there. Ur was the birth place of Prophet Abraham (PUH) who is the Grand father of Prophet Mohammad (PUH).
9. The Wheel & Bronze: Both were innovated by the Sumerian 3700 B.C & led to advancement in war & technology. They discovered that when Tin melted with Copper it produce Bronze which is stronger & on the same time more durable. The first war was fought there & since then may wars happened a long it history.
10. Role of peace: Sargon 2334 BC, was the first king to send his troops as far as to Egypt & Ethiopia to unify the unsettled areas who used to fight for lands & water & to introduce law & prosperity by creating mass jobs for the people with large mobilization of laborer. Sargon created the first empire in the history. Wars then started to get more so often for the wealth of this region. With civilization law & roles get more advanced but the first written & well documented law was established by Hammurabi the King of Babylon to the North of Sumer.
11. Administrative structure: This was innovated by Hammurabi to the North of Sumer (Babylon) but he later ruled over Sumer as well. It was the first complete written structure for civil life in the human history called the Cod of Law.
12. Banking activities: Banking originated in Mesopotamia in Babylon first temples then palaces provided a safe place for the storage of valuables. Initially deposits of grain were accepted & later other goods including cattle, agricultural implements, then precious metals.
Sumer became the most prosperous region & the others start to battle it for the wealth like the Akkadians who are Semitic & migrated up from the Arabian Peninsula. When the two peoples clashed, the Sumerians gradually lost control over the city-states they had so brilliantly created and fell under the hegemony of the Akkadian kingdom, which was based in Akkad (Sumerian Agade). This great capital of the largest empire humans had ever seen up until that point that was later to become Babylon, which was the commercial and cultural center of the Middle East for almost two thousand years.
In 2125 BC, the Sumerian city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia rose up in revolt, & the Akkadian empire fell before a renewal of Sumerian city-states.
A dramatic growth in science & mathematics were then set up, like the great mathematical inventions of the division of the circle into 360 degrees and were among the first to invent longitude and latitude in geographical navigation by the Assyrians. The Mesopotamians also developed a sophisticated medical science, which greatly influenced medical science everywhere. They invented the first medical law which regulated for the first time in man history the practice of medicine & the responsibility of the practitioners for their own mistakes toward the patients & society. Hammurabi's law was the first to put rules of who should and how should medicine practiced.
Hammurabi
Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC), was the 6th king of Amorites in Babylon. Babylon comes from Bab-ili which means the "Gate of God". Babylonian rule encompassed a huge area covering most of the Tigris-Euphrates river valley from Sumer and the Persian Gulf in the south to Assyria in the north. Hammurabi united the land again after the fall of the great state of the Summerians & extends the empire from the Arabian Gulf to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Under Hammurabi's dynasty, (the First Dynasty of Babylon - 200 years), Babylonia entered into a period of extreme prosperity & relative peace. Throughout his long reign he personally supervised navigation, irrigation, agriculture, tax collection, & the erection of many temples & buildings. Although he was a successful military leader and administrator, Hammurabi is primarily remembered for his codification of the laws governing Babylonian life. Under Hammurabi the Assyrians & the Babylonians achieved complete harmonious fusion & peace.
Hammurabi was a great lawgiver. He introduced his
Code of Law in the second year of his reign. It is considered the earliest legal comprehensive code known in history. Hammurabi recorded the law code on a block of black diorite 2.4 m (8 ft) high. This was discovered by a team of French archaeologists at Susa, Iraq, during the winter of 1901 & is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Many of his concepts were adopted by the other nations & used as principles of law in modern time like:
1. The state is the authority responsible for enforcing the law
2. Social justice should be guaranteed
3. The punishment should fit the crime
4. Legal protection should be provided to lower classes
After Hammurabi
As mentioned before the prosperity, peace, well advanced life & system led the others to fight many wars in that region but the Mesopotamian continued to make more advancement in all aspect of their life & system. In summary the following major events happened:
1. Around 1590 BC a Kassite tribes succeeded to control Babylonia & set itself as a dynasty.
2. Elamites control power from Kassite around 1168 BC.
3. Assyrian become a regional power North to Babylon by around 1370 BC
4. Babylonian revolt & dynasty of Isin take over. Nebuchadnezzar-I expanded the land to the North & conquered Jerusalem & carried away thousands of Hebrews back to Babylon. He allowed them to practice their religion freely & make them to learn new professions & jobs where they dissolved in the society. One of the seven wonders the Hanging Gardens were built by his son Nebuchadnezzar-II around 700 BC. The Hanging Gardens were built on top of stone arches 23 meters above ground and watered from the Euphrates by a complicated mechanical system. The roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. It was Nebuchadnezzar II who restored Mesopotamia to its former Babylonian glory and made Babylon the most famous city of the ancient world.
5. Around 600 BC Assyria was in its glory & controlled Babylon
6. Iranian attacked Babylon & Cyrus the Great takeover in 539BC
7. Babylon then declined after controlled by Alexander the Great in 331BC, who died there in 323 BC. Mesopotamia became under the Greek Seleucid dynasty
8. In the second century BC until 7th century AD, it became part of the Persian Empire & Sassanids had their capital in Ctesiphon in Iraq. Wars between the Persians & the Byzantine weakened the Sassanids.
9. In the 7th century AD, the Arab Muslims captured it from Persian by three major battles; Dhat Al-Salasil (the battle of chains) for chaining the Persian POWs by chains; Al-Buwayb and Al-Qadisiyah after which Rustum the Persian emperor was killed. The second caliph Omar (634-644 AD) ordered the founding of two important cities Basrah and Kuffa which became later the Capital of the Isalm during Imam Ali (PUH) caliphate. Later his Son Imam Hussein (PUH) the grandson of Prophet Mohammed (PUH) was killed in Kerbala about 100 miles south west of Baghdad (680 AD) by the rulers of Kuffa Bin Ziad who represent the Umayyad dynasty of Yazied Bin Maaowiah in Damascus.
10. In 750 AD Abbasid dynasty by Abo Al Abbas established its state in Baghdad which became the capital of the Islamic world after the fall of the Umayyad dynasty. Baghdad became the centre of power in the world. It became the center for scientific and philosophical glory for decades to come. The first university in the world was built there and called Al-Mustansryiah which is still standing there in Baghdad beside the river Tigers. They translated many books in medicine, science, astrology, philosophy, physics, maths, religion like Greek Old Testament and many other books for Aristole, Hippocrates, Plato, Ptolemy, Euclid & Pythagoras. They made many great discoveries like in spherical astronomy and integral calculus. Al-Khawarizmi invented the Zero & used Algebraic equations. The book of Bin-Sina in medicine (Al-Kanoon) (The Law) considered the main reference book for medicine for many decades in ME and Europe. Medicine advanced rapidly a lot and subs-specialization started here. The Abbasid era was not without many atrocities by some of their rulers and by the outside interferences. Later on these internal affairs and the unjust of some Caliphs weakened the state. At the end the Caliph was only a Puppet for others.
11. Mongols invasion: In the early 13th century Genghis Khan (World Conqueror) led a huge force of Mongols swept from china to the conquered all the lands and states until reaching Iran. He then died and during the time of grandson Hulagu Khan (1217 – 1265 AD) he entered Baghdad with 200,000 soldiers on 10th Moharam 1258 and they killed hundred of thousands of people including the last Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustaa'sm Billah who was crushed under feet. Hulagu destroyed every thing including the artistic and science work built over centuries. He burned books and it said that the Tigris turned red from blood and blue fro the ink. After this destruction the history of Iraq came into chaos.
12. From 16th - 20th century Iraq history was affected by the on going conflict between Safawid in Iran and Ottomanis in Turkey. It was mainly ruled for 400 years by the Ottoman Empire who ignored Iraq requirements and tried aggressively to implement "Turkifications" on the Iraqi society as well as to use as a buffer zone against the Iranian. This 400 years was a continuation of the destruction created by the Mongols with little improvements. Added to that the floods, plagues, malaria and other diseases and wars.
13. British occupation: After the 1st world war the Ottoman Empire failed and Iraq became part of the British empire colonies by 1917. In 1920 the Iraqis revolted against British rule which led to a new plan for the rule of the country. Faisal Bin Hussian the brother the ruler of Jordan King Abdallah appointed by the British to be the ruler of Iraq in 1921. Six year later Iraq found to have huge reserves of oil which brought many improvement to its life. Iraq became an independent state in 3rd Oct 1932 & joined the League of Nations. In 1949 Iraq became a member of the UN & on the same year it became a founder member of the Arab League. The recent history of Iraq then influenced by Pro-Arab nationalists and many coups, war & instability.
14. From Kingdom to Republic: On 14 July 1958 the Hashimite monarchy was overthrown by a coup executed by 19 officers under the leadership of Abdul-Karim Qassem and they executed King Faisal II and many others among the royal family and government.
Four years later the Baath party and Arab nationals overthrown and assassinated Qassem by a coup on 8th Feb 1963 and by the leader of Abdul Salam Arif & Ahmad Al-Baker. Arif died on 13th April 1966 by helicopter accident in Basrah & his brother Abd Al Rahman succeeded him.
Five years later on 17th July 1968 the Baath party took over after a coup against Abdul Rahman Arif the brother of Abdul Salam. Ahmad Al-Baker became president but power was in the hands of Saddam Hussien from a few days later when he controlled from behind the scenes then he put Al-Baker in house arrest and replaced him on 16th July 1979.
During Saddam's presidency from 1979 until his fall on 9th April 2003 he led Iraq into 3 major wars with Iran (from 22nd Sep 1980 until 8th Aug 1988), invasion of Kuwait (2nd Aug 1990 until 3rd March 1991) and later the Coalition forces led by USA war started 20th March 2003 until the occupation of Baghdad in 9th April 2003.
In addition to that he accepted to lead a country weakened by sever sanctions & strict inspections and the North of the country was not under the control of the central government. During his time the Iraqi people were dying from wars, sanctions, executions, and diseases. He also caused nearly 5 million Iraqis to leave the country accepting an alternative life bringing more suffering & pain for most of them. He governed Iraq with fear, imprisonment, execution, mass killing, expulsion, & discrimination.
The New Iraq
After decades of hardship and suffering Iraqis everywhere must now unite to build a new free and democratic Iraq which contribute to the welfare of its own people and humanity at large ...as it formerly did in its history.
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