A potted history of Iraq, all the way back to 3100BC. Of particular interest-

1914: As a part of World War 1, British forces invade southern Iraq.

1917: British occupation of Baghdad begins.

1920: Arabs of southern Iraq starts military actions towards the British, who did not fulfill their promises to leave the area to the locals after the Turks were defeated. The British responded military in the beginning, but soon realized that it would be impossible to control the area.

1921: Prince Faisal of Hijaz (now: southwestern Saudi Arabia) wins a popular election, with 96% of the ballots, and is declared king of Iraq August 23

and for all on the right claiming that Sunday is the country’s first taste of democracy-

1953: Direct parliamentary elections. King Faisal 2 assumes throne, as he was only 3 when his father died.

1954: Political instability, as USA tries to enhance its influence in Iraq.

Certainly those elections would have been far from the representative ideal, but no more so than the ones being held this week.

Technorati tag: Iraq