How I Read History

I have recently listened to the unabridged CD version (14 discs) of "A History of the Middle East," by Peter Mansfield. It was a pretty good overview, but certain insinuations and glossing over of some of the more interesting bits of history made me view the book with some skepticism.

He glossed over the Armenian genocide. He only covered it with a few paragraphs and made it sound more like an attack and that the Armenians have since been looking for some form of revenge. What the Turks did to the Armenians was genocide. Pure and simple. What the Armenians want is justice. Just like us Indians. The Americans and their Euro predecessors have and continue to commit genocide against us Indians. We want justice.

He also glossed over what the Mongols did to the Mesopotamian empire. The Mongols completely destroyed it. I mean that in a literal sense. The Mongols had a habit of simply killing everyone in sight when it came to warfare. In 1258, Hulagu headed a Mongol force onto Baghdad, and killed everyone that wasn't a Christian (they were allied with Christians at the time). The population of Baghdad at the time was around 800,000, but many people had sought protection within the walls of the city from the Mongol invaders from the surrounding areas. Thus, in a period of 6 days in the month of February 1258, some 800,000 to 2,000,000 (a number alleged to have been given to the French King by Hulagu) people were slaughtered. Bodies were piled into two massive towers and the stink was so bad that battle hardened Hulagu even had to leave the city from the horrific stench. Baghdad was completely destroyed and has NEVER recovered. (Read Edwin Black's "Banking on Baghdad").

Peter also stated that Saddam's August 2, 1990 invasion came as a complete surprise. Peter Mansfield wrote "A History of the Middle East" in 1991, so he has excuses. However, with the ensuing release of information, one finds out things like mass murderer and genocidal maniac Norman Schwarpzkopf had done 7 military exercises for a U.S. invasion of Iraq from 1986. Four of these invasion scenarios included dealing with an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. (Read "The Fire This Time: U.S. War Crimes in the Gulf" by Ramsey Clark). And as we all pretty much know now, April Glaspie, U.S. ambassador to Iraq at the time, told Iraq president Saddam Hussein that the U.S. takes no position should he choose to invade Kuwait, so he did. It was also stated that the Iraqi military committed many attrocities in Kuwait during their occupation. Another lie fabricated in part by the Kuwaiti ambassadors daughter to congress in order to further the desire for mass slaughter of Iraqi's for U.S. control of their oil.

I am really grateful to have an overview of much of this history. Though "A History of the Middle East" is a good overview of what has been going on there for many centuries, especially in the current form, be careful when you read editorializing on some of the history you read. There is usually a lot more to it.