Until They Leave: Liberation, Occupation, and Insurgency in Iraq

Abstract

Much has been written comparing the British and U.S. wars for and occupation—or liberation—of Iraq. Observers inside and outside the country have argued over Iraq’s imperial and colonial legacies, identity, and viability. For many non-Iraqis and Western political observers, the country was an artificial creation of secret agreements between British and French diplomats eager for booty when World War I ended. Iraqis were primarily Arabs or Kurds, Sunnis or Shi’as, Christians or Jews. What they were not, according to this perspective, was Iraqi. For many Iraqis and a smaller number of scholars, however, Iraqi nationalism was born in the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, and was the force that shaped modern Iraq, despite British efforts to impose foreign values, institutions, and rulers. Much of the extant literature about the liberations and occupations has been written by observers more interested in prescribing policy than understanding Iraq. Their work bears limited resemblance to actions on the ground and reactions of Iraqis to the events shaping their history and political culture.