[lit-ideas] Re: dealing with the Slobodan Husseins
- From: Eric Yost <Mr.Eric.Yost@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 13:37:12 -0400
JM: What all of these arguments evade, of course, is the principle of
international law that forbids invasion of a sovereign state's
territory in the absence of a prior attack from that state or,
stretching a point, a clear and present danger.
EY: But in a war, almost anything can be cited as a "clear and present
danger." How about the British pre-emptive intervention in Iraq in 1941?
The Nazis were planning to secure the country so as to disrupt the
Egypt-India air routes of the Allies.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KNN/is_35/ai_n8563331
The other gulf war: British intervention in Iraq, 1941
The British accorded sovereignty to Iraq in 1932, making it the first
former Turkish colony in the Middle East to gain independence. However,
because Basra and Baghdad were important as an air link and land passage
between India and British-controlled Palestine and the Suez canal, a
treaty that permitted Commonwealth troops to transit Iraq also required
Baghdad to "give all aid, including the use of railways, rivers, ports,
and airfields" in the event of war.
<snip>
The preventative invasion of Iraq caught Germany off guard, mainly
because its diplomats and military were divided over the question of
exploiting Arab nationalism. The foreign office in Berlin had been in
contact with the mufti. But Hitler preferred to leave policy formulation
on the Mediterranean and Middle East to Rome. The Wehrmacht high
command, whose views on Italian competence are unprintable, supported
Arab nationalist movements to undermine Britain.
<snip>
By the time Hitler declared that the Arab liberation movement was a
natural ally, Churchill had preempted Axis intervention. Nor did Iraq
further its cause by mistakenly shooting down the plane with Major Axel
von Bloomberg, a German negotiator sent to coordinate military support.
Despite efforts by Rudolf Rahn, the German representative on the Italian
armistice commission in Syria, to run trains of arms, munitions, and
spare parts to Iraq through Turkey and Syria, and the intervention of
Axis planes, the five Iraqi divisions and 60 serviceable aircraft were
no match for a force of 200 aircraft. Habforce, spear-headed by the Arab
Legion, reached Habbaniya on May 18 after crossing 500 miles of searing
desert in a week. By this time, RAF bombers had annihilated the Iraqi
air force and extended attacks to Syrian bases that serviced Axis planes.
<snip>
Regime change in Iraq created dominoes. Unsettled by the Vichy
invitation for Germany to use Syrian air bases and goaded by the Free
French under Charles de Gaulle, Churchill ordered the invasion of Syria
and Lebanon, which fell in mid-July after a six-week campaign. In
August, British and Soviet forces invaded Persia, overthrowing Reza Shah
and replacing him with his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Axis attempts to
stoke Arab nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism to undermine the
British base in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean had been quashed.
<snip>
[Generalizing to the present, the article concludes:]
The challenge is translating victory over Saddam Hussein into a program
that will stabilize a region inclined toward effervescence and avoid the
need for a repeat intervention. The British experience reveals that
regime change alone is no panacea. While it will eliminate the immediate
problem, it will not lead to lasting change unless Iraq is placed on a
more democratic footing, and the festering sore in the region--the
Israel-Palestine dispute--is equitably resolved.
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
