Rampant Iraq Tribalism - The Real Cause of Iraq's Problems
I read a very interesting post the other day on another blog by Zeyad, and alleged Iraqi dentist, in 2004 that really points out the truth of the saying "Those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it". It has to do with the history of the Iraq region. Up until almost the middle of the 20th Century, all of the countries south of Turkey consisted, to a large extent, of loose bands of roaming tribes. Within this region, the area known today as Iraq was reknowned as the home of particularly contentious groups. In fact today there are over 120 distinct tribes in "the country formerly known as Iraq" and over 200 separate clans. These ties and allegiances die hard and do not go away over night or even in a century or so. Even today, these tribal affiliations take precedence over any kind of federal government, something we are seeing with the explosion of militia units and splinter groups.
Like I said, if you look at the history of the Iraq area and its peoples, they have a substantial reputation for being a fractious bunch, willing at the drop of a hat to turn on the rulers, whomever they might be, at the slightest show of weakness. They also have a legendary reputation for pillaging like nobody's business. Remember the incredible looting when Baghdad fell? Well that is not the first time Iraqi's have feasted off their own carcass. Similar frenzied looting happened when the Ottoman Turks finally pulled out of what we now know as Baghdad in 1916. Just like a deja vu, the looting back then was ferocious and did not stop until the British opened fire and started shooting looters, but that was not until almost all of Baghdad was completely dismantled. In fact it was not until the British started hanging looters and other criminals in public that order was able to be restored. Hmmm, sound familiar? Only the Americans forgot to hang Iraqi killers, looters, and mayhem makers in public, preferring to torture and abuse them at Abu Grab, which unfortunately did not make the kind of powerful statement a public hanging does in terms of what kind of behavior will be tolerated and that you really mean business.
Interestingly enough, the much maligned Ba'ath Party came to power to try to end the tyranny and chaos of tribalism in the country and then Saddam Hussien came to power to keep the lid on tribal strife, unfortunately favoring the Sunni's (his own tribe) as a result. Now that the Ba'ath Party and Saddam have been deposed, what we have in Iraq is exactly what we had in Iraq before Saddam and the predecessing Ba'ath attempts to prevent tribalism from ruling the land. Iraq has now reverted back to its natural state, one of tiny shiekdoms (which we now call militias) willing to fight and kill anyone, even their neighbors, even for the tiniest perceived slight on their "honor" or over the smallest morsel. There is and never has been the kind of "group think" mentality Iraqi's need to have a real centralized government that works and that the populace can respect.
Seems like the Americans should have read their history books before deciding to wade into Iraq (for what ever purpose the war was really started for). What we have now, is exactly what could be predicted, because as every good Human Resources person knows is that "A person's past performance is the best indicator of their future performance". Maybe we need more HR people working at high levels at the State Department, Pentagon, and in the White House then egg-headed academic or military advisors who seem not to know history or what it means in terms of knowing what someone (or some people) might do.
Anyone who knew the history of this region of the world could have predicted what the outcome of Saddam's downfall would cause.
Like I said, if you look at the history of the Iraq area and its peoples, they have a substantial reputation for being a fractious bunch, willing at the drop of a hat to turn on the rulers, whomever they might be, at the slightest show of weakness. They also have a legendary reputation for pillaging like nobody's business. Remember the incredible looting when Baghdad fell? Well that is not the first time Iraqi's have feasted off their own carcass. Similar frenzied looting happened when the Ottoman Turks finally pulled out of what we now know as Baghdad in 1916. Just like a deja vu, the looting back then was ferocious and did not stop until the British opened fire and started shooting looters, but that was not until almost all of Baghdad was completely dismantled. In fact it was not until the British started hanging looters and other criminals in public that order was able to be restored. Hmmm, sound familiar? Only the Americans forgot to hang Iraqi killers, looters, and mayhem makers in public, preferring to torture and abuse them at Abu Grab, which unfortunately did not make the kind of powerful statement a public hanging does in terms of what kind of behavior will be tolerated and that you really mean business.
Interestingly enough, the much maligned Ba'ath Party came to power to try to end the tyranny and chaos of tribalism in the country and then Saddam Hussien came to power to keep the lid on tribal strife, unfortunately favoring the Sunni's (his own tribe) as a result. Now that the Ba'ath Party and Saddam have been deposed, what we have in Iraq is exactly what we had in Iraq before Saddam and the predecessing Ba'ath attempts to prevent tribalism from ruling the land. Iraq has now reverted back to its natural state, one of tiny shiekdoms (which we now call militias) willing to fight and kill anyone, even their neighbors, even for the tiniest perceived slight on their "honor" or over the smallest morsel. There is and never has been the kind of "group think" mentality Iraqi's need to have a real centralized government that works and that the populace can respect.
Seems like the Americans should have read their history books before deciding to wade into Iraq (for what ever purpose the war was really started for). What we have now, is exactly what could be predicted, because as every good Human Resources person knows is that "A person's past performance is the best indicator of their future performance". Maybe we need more HR people working at high levels at the State Department, Pentagon, and in the White House then egg-headed academic or military advisors who seem not to know history or what it means in terms of knowing what someone (or some people) might do.
Anyone who knew the history of this region of the world could have predicted what the outcome of Saddam's downfall would cause.
