Violence has roots in 1920 resistance

When news reports said a U.S. Marine from West Jordan had been taken hostage by a group calling themselves the National Islamic Resistance — 1920 Revolution Brigades, very few Americans realized the significance of that year in Iraqi history.

Still to this day, in the smoke-filled tea rooms in Iraq, men boast over games of backgammon that their fathers, or grandfathers, fought in the 1920 resistance against the British.

The year 1920 is mentioned in the textbooks of Iraqi schoolchildren as a heroic time for the Iraqi people against colonial occupation.

The constant stream of bomb attacks, mortar assaults and hostage-taking happening in Iraq today must seem to Americans as a senseless delay in building Iraqi sovereignty.

One cause of the violence in Iraq today goes back to 1919, to Paris and the League of Nations Peace Conference. There, just after World War I, Iraq, like many other Arab areas, was carved into a nation. Syria was made a mandate under France, while Iraq and Palestine were placed under British mandate.

Iraqi historians write that even before news that Iraq was under British control reached Baghdad, violence had already broken out. Iraqi tribal leaders demanded independence, which in May 1920 was swiftly rejected by British leadership in Iraq.

It was to be one of the bloodiest conflicts in Iraqi history. "The Great Iraqi Revolution of 1920," as some call it, resulted in the estimated death of 3,000 British troops and 10,000 Iraqi fighters. British convoys were ambushed on a regular basis. Kidnappings and assassinations also took place. British officials said they came to "liberate" Iraq from Ottoman control.

It was also a time for solidarity among Iraq's various factions. Shiites, Sunnis and others set aside their own bloody differences to fight a common enemy: the British occupation.

Historic accounts show that the British eventually replaced their military regime with a provisional Arab government, with the eventual goal of preparing Iraqi leaders for self-government.

In 1921, the British named King Faisal, of Lawrence of Arabia fame, as the ruler of Iraq. Faisal himself claimed heritage from the Hashemite family of Saudi Arabia. Through the rule of his son, Faisal II, Iraq continued to have a rocky and violent history until the overthrow of the British-installed monarchy in 1958.

So what does this have to do with a U.S. Marine being held captive in Iraq today?