Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
Why did the invasion of Iraq result in the destruction of culture and murder of intellectuals? Convention sees accidents of war and poor planning in a campaign to liberate Iraqis. The authors argue instead that the invasion aimed to dismantle the Iraqi state to remake it as a client regime.
Post-invasion chaos created conditions under which the cultural foundations of the state could be undermined. The authors painstakingly document the consequences of the occupiers' wilful inaction and worse, which led to the ravaging of one of the world's oldest recorded cultures. Targeted assassination of over 400 academics, kidnapping and the forced flight of thousands of doctors, lawyers, artists and other intellectuals add up to cultural cleansing.
This book lays to rest claims that the invasion aimed to free an educated population to develop its own culture of democracy.
'If you are looking for a textbook that provides a view of Middle East politics free of colonial bias, [this] book plainly fulfil this fundamental requirement'
Gilbert Achcar, Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Contents | vii | ||
| Preface | xi | ||
| PART I - Formulating and Executing the Policy of Cultural Cleansing | 1 | ||
| 1. ENDING THE IRAQI STATE by Raymond W. Baker, Shereen T. Ismael, and Tareq Y. Ismael | 3 | ||
| The Ideological Imperatives for a “New” Iraq | 7 | ||
| The Neo-Conservative Movement | 8 | ||
| Theory to Practice: The Modalities of State-Ending in Iraq | 12 | ||
| Death Squads as Foreign Policy Tool | 13 | ||
| The Israeli Example: State Destruction in Palestine | 16 | ||
| The Question of Oil | 17 | ||
| The Israeli Role in Iraq | 21 | ||
| Israel in Occupied Iraq | 22 | ||
| The Contours of Cultural Destruction | 25 | ||
| Destruction of Social Institutions | 31 | ||
| Conclusion | 42 | ||
| 2. CULTURAL CLEANSING INCOMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE by Glenn E. Perry | 49 | ||
| The Cleansing of Civilizations | 50 | ||
| The Cleansing of Peoples | 51 | ||
| Building and Destroying Nations | 51 | ||
| Crimes Against Culture: The Former Yugoslavia | 54 | ||
| Crimes Against Culture: Palestine | 55 | ||
| Conclusion | 60 | ||
| PART II - Policy in Motion: The Assault on Iraq’s Incomparable History | 65 | ||
| 3. ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE STRATEGIES OF WAR by Zainab Bahrani | 67 | ||
| The Assault on Iraqi History and Collective Memory | 68 | ||
| The Willful Violence of Cultural Destruction | 79 | ||
| 4. THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE OF IRAQ by Abbas al-Hussainy | 82 | ||
| The Destruction | 82 | ||
| An Overview of the Iraqi Cultural Heritage | 89 | ||
| The Islamic Heritage | 91 | ||
| 5. NEGLIGENT MNEMOCIDE AND THE SHATTERING OF IRAQI COLLECTIVE MEMORY by Nabil al-Tikriti | 93 | ||
| Invasion Policies | 94 | ||
| Baghdad Archives and Manuscript Collections | 98 | ||
| Provincial Manuscript Collections | 106 | ||
| Relative Human Valuation and the Collapse of Collective Memory | 106 | ||
| PART III - Policy in Motion: The Present and the Future | 117 | ||
| 6. KILLING THE INTELLECTUAL CLASS: ACADEMICS AS TARGETS by Dirk Adriaensens | 119 | ||
| Looting, Arrests and Murder: The Occupation of Iraq Begins | 119 | ||
| The Campaign of Assassination | 121 | ||
| A Case Study: Baghdad’s College of Dentistry | 125 | ||
| Violence on Campus | 129 | ||
| An Educational System on the Verge of Collapse | 130 | ||
| Actions to Protect Iraqi Intellectuals | 131 | ||
| The Occupation is Responsible | 136 | ||
| Urgent Actions are Needed to Save Iraq’s Academics | 137 | ||
| 7. WIPING THE SLATE CLEAN by Max Fuller and Dirk Adriaensens | 149 | ||
| The Purge of Iraqi Academics | 149 | ||
| Emergence of the Purge | 149 | ||
| Targeted Assassinations | 153 | ||
| Death Threats and Intimidation | 156 | ||
| Kidnapping and Detention | 160 | ||
| The Authorship of Killings of Iraqi Academics | 164 | ||
| Motive and Opportunity | 164 | ||
| Case Study 1: Professor Tareq Samarree | 168 | ||
| Case Study 2: The Raid on the Ministry of Higher Education | 170 | ||
| De-Ba‘athifi cation and the Origin of the Purge of Academics | 172 | ||
| The Intelligence Apparatus | 175 | ||
| The End of History? | 181 | ||
| 8. DEATH, DISPLACEMENT, OR FLIGHT by Dahr Jamail | 203 | ||
| Brain Drain | 204 | ||
| Crime for Wage | 205 | ||
| Surge Purge | 206 | ||
| Hard Times/Bleak Future | 207 | ||
| Permanently Disabled | 209 | ||
| 9. THE PURGING OF MINDS by Philip Marfleet | 212 | ||
| National Character of Displacement | 213 | ||
| “Brain Drain” | 216 | ||
| Emergency | 219 | ||
| Repression and Refuge | 220 | ||
| Persecution | 223 | ||
| Assault on the State | 225 | ||
| State of Terror | 227 | ||
| Salvador Option | 230 | ||
| 10. MINORITIES IN IRAQ: THE OTHER VICTIMS by Mokhtar Lamani | 239 | ||
| Introduction | 239 | ||
| Field Research | 242 | ||
| Current Situation of Minorities | 243 | ||
| Yezidis | 245 | ||
| Mandaeans | 246 | ||
| Christians | 247 | ||
| Turkmen | 249 | ||
| Other Minorities | 249 | ||
| Governance Challenges | 250 | ||
| Conclusions | 253 | ||
| Appendices | 256 | ||
| APPENDIX 1: REFLECTIONS ON DEATH ANXIETY AND UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS IN IRAQ by Faris K.O. Nadhmi | 257 | ||
| Death Psychology | 257 | ||
| Death Anxiety in Iraq | 258 | ||
| Conclusions | 261 | ||
| APPENDIX 2: LIST OF MURDERED ACADEMICS | 263 | ||
| Notes on Contributors | 282 | ||
| Index | 286 |