{"id":4268,"date":"2010-07-28T15:28:37","date_gmt":"2010-07-28T19:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/?p=4268"},"modified":"2010-07-28T16:00:24","modified_gmt":"2010-07-28T20:00:24","slug":"4268","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/2010\/07\/28\/4268\/","title":{"rendered":"top of the list…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There’s an opinion piece in the Guardian written by an Iraqi living in England [Chilcot inquiry: too late, Hans Blix: too late<\/strong><\/a>] that faults Hans Blix<\/strong>, "Back then, he minced his words, providing enough ambiguity for Tony Blair and Jack Straw to push on with their plans to drag Britain into the US-led war.<\/em>" Who knows about that? Everyone has their own perspective for assessing blame for what happened in Iraq. So where does the blame really lie? Who is at fault? Certainly not Dr. Hans Blix or the UK’s Chilcot Inquiry! <\/p>\n

But one doesn’t spend time trying to partition blame unless there’s something bad wrong, and there’s no problem in this case. Almost everything is wrong, including Iraq’s existence as a state:<\/p>\n\n\n
Ancient Persia<\/strong> became part of the Islamic Empire<\/strong> is the 7th Century<\/font><\/strong>, was over-run by the Mongols<\/strong> in the 13th Century<\/font><\/strong>, was decimated by the Black Death<\/strong> in the 15th Century<\/font><\/strong>, and was rolled into the Ottoman Empire <\/strong>in the early 16th Century<\/font><\/strong> where it remained until World War I. After that war, it became the State of Iraq<\/strong> in 1921<\/font><\/strong> under British Mandate<\/strong> – a collection of widely differing and warring ethnic\/Religious groups [Kurds, Assyrians, Shiites, Sunnis] under the British imposed H\u00c4\u0081shimite Monarchy<\/strong>. The British promoted the minority Sunnis into positions of power. Iraq became independent in 1932<\/font><\/strong>. When there was a coup in 1941<\/font><\/strong>, the British invaded and restored the Monarchy, which lasted until the next coup in 1958<\/font><\/strong> [Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qassim<\/span><\/strong>], which was removed by another in 1963<\/font><\/strong> [Colonel Abdul Salam Arif<\/strong>]. Finally, the 1968 <\/font><\/strong>coup by the Arab Socialist <\/strong>Baath Party<\/strong><\/span> succeeded in establishing control over Iraq and Saddam Hussein<\/strong> became President in 1979<\/font><\/strong> [by killing off his rivals]. The H\u00c4\u0081shimite Monarchy persists next door in Jordon; a different version of the Baathists rule Syria; Saudi Arabia has a Sunni Monarchy; and Iran has a Shiite who-knows-what?-ocracy.<\/em><\/sub><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

So after their absurd history of outside interference, we can probably put Saddam Hussein next on some kind of blame list. His pugilism has been off the scale, both within Iraq and against his neighbors. But as to his danger to the world<\/u> in 2003? <\/p>\n

Dr. Blix had something to say about  that question<\/strong><\/a>:<\/div>\n