At sprawling American base, echoes of a former British empire

[Barrett808]

At sprawling American base, echoes of a former British empire
Saturday July 15, 2006
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA
Associated Press Writer

HABANIYAH, Iraq (AP) Lying at the edge of this vast military base, the quiet cemetery of 300 tombstones is a crumbling vestige of the British Empire. Once a Royal Air Force hub, the base now serves U.S. forces.

To historians, the base at Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, represents one of many parallels between past and present.

Older Iraqis remember the British base as a symbol of foreign domination that stoked the country's nationalist movement. Today, Habaniyah's American occupants face similar hostility as they struggle to stabilize Iraq.

``Habaniyah was the focus of the most intense Iraqi resentment toward the Brits,'' said Professor Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia University and a critic of the U.S.-led invasion. ``If you thought (Iraqis) weren't going to resist when they spent a good part of the 20th century trying to get the British out of there you're out of your mind.''

(more)

http://cbs4boston.com/worldwire/Iraq-EchoesofEmpire_a_i_-----/resources_news_html

[TacticalPeek]

1. K & R

Another cite -

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1949363.php

:patriot:

[chill_wind]

2. `If you thought (Iraqis) weren't going to resist

when they spent a good part of the 20th century trying to get the British out of there you're out of your mind.''

Powell's broken pottery barn, which fell on deaf ears.

Him aside, it's not like there were a shortage of military history books, analysts and military historians available to the Pentagon when the neo-crazies took over. They can't plead ignorance in The Hague.

A 2 to 3 week war. Flowers on the tanks. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.