Johan Franzen - Pride and Power: A Modern History of Iraq

First published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by

C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.,

41 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3PL

Johan Franzn, 2021

All rights reserved.

Printed in India

The right of Johan Franzn to be identified as the author of
this publication is asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Distributed in the United States, Canada and Latin America by
Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016,
United States of America.

A Cataloguing-in-Publication data record for this book
is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 9781787383951
ISBN: 9781787385337 (e-book)

www.hurstpublishers.com

To the people of Iraq

Let it be known that history is a discipline of august procedureits benefits are numerous, its purpose noble. It tells us about the circumstances of bygone nations with all their differences, the conduct of the prophets, and the dynasties and rule of kings. In this manner anyone who so desires can achieve benefit by following this example in worldly and heavenly matters. History writing requires varied sources and different kinds of information. It also requires good perception and careful procedurecharacteristics that lead the historian to the truth and keeps him away from mistakes and errors. That is because, if information is relied upon in its bare transmitted form, and if the principles of custom, the precepts of governance, the nature of civilisation, and the conditions of human society are not used to judge it, and if it is not weighed against the past and the present, then the historian sometimes cannot avoid stumbling and losing his footing and deviating from the path of truth.

Ibn Khaldn, al-Muqaddimah

Throughout this book there appear many Arabic and other words not based on the Latin script. Where phrases and/or words have been translated directly from Arabic a full transliteration with diacritic signs has been provided, largely following the model of transliteration used by the International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES). Place names that have common spellings in English have not been transliterated (e.g. Basra is used instead of al-Barah; Mosul instead of al-Mawil, etc.), less well-known towns and geographical areas have been rendered as close to the original as possible, albeit omitting the definite article in the interest of readability. Similarly, famous people whose names in English have particular renderings have retained their familiar spelling (e.g. Saddam Hussein instead of Saddam Husayn and Gamal Abdel Nasser rather than Jaml Abd al-Nir). In other cases, a simplified transliteration omitting diacritical signs has been used. For clarity, symbols for the letters Ayn () and Hamzah () have been included throughout. To distinguish between long and short vowelled names, those formed on the ism fil pattern have been indicated by a final e rather i (e.g. Fadel rather than Fadil, Aref instead of Arif). Note, however, that Qasim has been rendered with an i. Any terms that are not in the Oxford English Dictionary have been italicised and explained further in the glossary if integral to the study.