Only A Historical Ignoramus Could Be Surprised
Niall Ferguson: “What happened in Iraq last week so closely resembles the events of 1920 that only a historical ignoramus could be surprised. It began in May, just after the announcement that Iraq would henceforth be a League of Nations "mandate" under British trusteeship. (Nota bene, if you think a handover to the UN would solve everything.) Anti-British demonstrations began in Baghdad mosques, spread to the Shi'ite holy centre of Karbala, swept on through Rumaytha and Samawa - where British forces were besieged - and reached as far as Kirkuk.”
Ferguson is arguing that looking to Vietnam for a comparison to today is flawed, and that, as in the above quote, Iraq in the 1920s provides an instructive case for the Americans in Iraq now.