{"id":332,"date":"2012-07-25T08:55:04","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T08:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/?p=332"},"modified":"2012-07-25T09:05:05","modified_gmt":"2012-07-25T09:05:05","slug":"syria-iraq-now-and-then","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/?p=332","title":{"rendered":"Syria & Iraq: now and then"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am struck by two things: firstly, the language used by both government leaders and the opposition.\u00a0<\/span> And, secondly, the similarities between what is happening now and what happened in the past, in Damascus, Baghdad and other centres of Muslim rule in the Middle East and North Africa. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>(Published in Daily Times, 25 July 2012<\/em>)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Syrian uprising which began in the small town of Daraa in March 2011 and has taken nearly 20,000 lives thus far, has now reached Damascus.\u00a0 Top four security chiefs, including the president\u2019s brother-in-law, have been killed by a bombing while holding a meeting in their headquarters. <\/span>\u00a0The Syrian army chief appeared briefly on television, vowing that the military will \u201ccut off every hand that harms the security of the homeland and citizens.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0In response, one Rami al-Sayyed, an opposition activist in Damascus, is quoted as saying: \u201cToday we cut the head of the snake, but we still have the tail.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As I follow the progress of the revolts in\u00a0the Arab capitals, I am struck by two things: firstly, the language used by both government leaders and the opposition. Moammar Gaddafi referred to demonstrators as cockroaches and rats and invited his supporters to eliminate them.<\/span>\u00a0 And, secondly, the similarities between what is happening now and what happened in the past, in Damascus, Baghdad and other centres of Muslim rule in the Middle East and North Africa.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Statecraft and politics in\u00a0this region do not allow for compromise.\u00a0 The victor takes all and the vanquished flees for dear life if he can escape death or imprisonment.<\/span>\u00a0 Libya\u2019s Qaddafi, the latest victim, was\u00a0lynched by his captors and his corpse was desecrated. Yemen\u2019s Yahya Saleh survived an assassination attempt with severe burns, attempted a comeback, but soon left the country. Egypt\u2019s Hosni Mubarak is in jail; Tunisia\u2019s Ben Ali has fled to the safety of Saudi Arabia.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Iraq\u2019s transition from monarchy to republic in 1958, through a coup led by Brig Abdul Qassem, was achieved by executing members of the royal family, including 19 year-old King Faisal II, who were hung by their feet outside the palace.\u00a0 <\/span>Hysterical crowds dragged the body of Abd al-Ilah, the king\u2019s uncle through the streets of Baghdad, where it was hacked into pieces.<\/span>\u00a0 Prime Minister Nuri al-Said escaped, dressed as a veiled woman, but was caught and dragged through the streets from a car until there was nothing left but half a leg.<\/span>\u00a0 Qassem himself was tortured and killed five years later.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Saddam Hussein\u2019s rise from vice-president to president in 1979 was spectacular.\u00a0 At a<\/span> meeting of the Revolutionary Command Council on July 22 he suddenly started reading the names of \u201cenemies of the state\u201d. There was a stunned silence as the list included the names of many of those present. \u201cAs names were read from the list, each was arrested and taken away from the council meeting. Within a mere hours, 21 of the men that Saddam named were dead\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In Syria, Hafez Al Assad razed parts of Hama city in 1982 to crush a simmering Islamist opposition.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>At least 20,000 people were killed in one month.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Going back in history, the power struggle between Muawiyah, who was governor in Syria, and Caliph Ali, who had moved his capital from Medina to Iraq, continued after their deaths between their sons.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The forces of Yazid I, who was now Caliph, cut off the head of Hussain after seizing him at Karbala.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHis body was trampled under the hoofs of Umayyad cavalry with savage ferocity and subjected to every ignominy\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Upon the abdication of Caliph Muawiyah II in 684, another struggle for power ensued, from which Marwan I emerged victorious.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>When his son Abdul Malik succeeded him, he was contested by his cousin Amr bin Saeed, whom Malik removed \u201cby inviting him to a feast and then killing him\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the turn of the seventh century, there were three caliphs in the Muslim world, namely, Abdul Malik (in <\/span>Syria<\/span> and <\/span>Egypt<\/span>), Abdullah bin Zubair (Hejaz and <\/span>Basra<\/span>) and Mukhtar (Kufa and <\/span>Mosul<\/span>).<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In this triangular contest, resulting in numerous battles and countless deaths, many prominent heads rolled.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>These included Shammar and Umar bin Saad, who were responsible for the murder of Hussain.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTheir heads were cut off and sent to Zainul Abidin, the son of Imam Hussain.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Also killed was Ubaidullah bin Ziyad, commander of the Syrian force, whose \u201chead was cut off, and sent to Kufa where it was displayed in the audience hall where Ubaidullah had at one time displayed the head of Hazrat Hussain.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Under the rule of Hisham, there was an uprising in Kufa in 740, led by Zaid, the grandson of Hussain.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The revolt failed, \u201cZaid was arrested, his head was cut off and sent to Hisham in Damascus\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Towards the middle of the tenth century, \u201cBaghdad presented the spectacle of three personages who had once held the highest office in Islam (Caliph) but were now deposed, blinded and objects of public charity.\u201d Deposed Caliph Al-Qahir (932-34), one of the three who were blinded, spent his last years \u201cbegging on the streets of Baghdad\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In its 500-year history, the Abbasid Caliphate had a total of 37 Caliphs, of whom 9 were killed, 3 blinded and one imprisoned. Abul Abbas, who founded Abbasid rule after overthrowing the Umayyads, chose for himself the title of \u201cAs Saffah\u201d (the blood-shedder). \u00a0His able uncle Abdullah, governor of Syria, invited the 80 or so surviving Umayyad princes in Damascus to a banquet.<\/span>\u00a0 \u201cAt a given signal, a band of executioners entered the banquet hall and clubbed them to death.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Politics in the Third World can be rather unpredictable and dangerous, but in the Middle East it is, quite literally, a deadly serious issue, a life-and-death matter.\u00a0 In a region where the vocabulary of political discourse is infused with such expressions as \u201ccut off the hand\u201d, \u201cchop off the head\u201d, \u201ckill the snakes\u201d, \u201celiminate the cockroaches,\u201d etc., the road to high political office is a perilous one, frequently littered with corpses.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Aspirants to political power must tread with care, for one premature move, wrong step or ill-advised utterance could cost one his liberty or life.\u00a0 And those fortunate enough to reach the pinnacle of power must never let down their guard.<\/span>\u00a0 Where defeat means almost certain death, one is inclined to fight to the bitter end, holding hope even when there is none, as Bashar Al Assad is doing now and Gaddafi did before him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

by Razi Azmi<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am struck by two things: firstly, the language used by both government leaders and the opposition.\u00a0 And, secondly, the similarities between what is happening now and what happened in the past, in Damascus, Baghdad and other centres of Muslim … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziazmi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}