Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online Volume 1, Issue 1 | Page 37

2/2/2016

Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online

Iraq in Turmoil: Historical perspectives of Dr. Ali al-Wardi, from the Ottoman Empire to King Feisal
By: Youssef H. Aboul-Enein, Editor
Iraq in Turmoil: Historical perspectives of Dr. Ali al-Wardi, from the Ottoman Empire to King Feisal. Annapolis: Naval
Institute Press, 2012. 189 pp. $26.95. ISBN: 1612510779.
Volume: 1 Issue: 1
April 2013
Review by
Seth J. Frantzman, PhD
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israel
Between 1969 and 1976 Ali al-Wardi, an Iraqi born sociologist published an eight volume Arabic history of Iraq. His massive tome was an epic
achievement and he himself was a product of interesting times. Born in Iraq in 1913, he was just a boy when the revolt against the British broke out.
He traveled to Beirut in 1943 and, like so many influential men of his generation, attended the American University of Beirut. It was in the U.S. that
he received his PhD; yet he chose to write his epic in Arabic, his mother tongue. Iraq in Turmoil is an attempt to provide a much abridged analysis
of this important work and draw conclusions about modern day Iraq from it. As the editor notes “[this] volume provides an abridged translation
with commentary of the most significant aspects of the work for an American military audience, coupled with analysis of all eight books” (p. xii).
Commander Youssef Aboul-Enein is chair of Islamic studies at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and is a U.S. Navy Medical Service
Corps officer. As he notes “apparently, al-Wardi’s volumes are among the reading selections offered to Iraqi prisoners…[they] exploit the image of
Iraq’s history with the Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Wahhabis and Persians to their advantage…I uncovered a treasure trove of historical information ital.
to the understanding of Iraq” (p. xii). The author and subsequent chapter editors don’t attempt to hide the intentions behind this volume, which was
produced primarily for the American military. As General H.R. McMaster, who writes the forward to chapter 1, states “soldiers who have
conducted counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan understand the importance of developing and understanding the culture and history
of the regions in which they are fighting” (p. 1). That being noted, this volume nevertheless offers much to scholars outside of the military academy.
Portions of Ali Al-Wardi’s work have been translated into English before, but those books are not widely available and knowledge about them is
lacking. Therefore another refresher on this important piece of history is of great worth for which scholars on modern Iraq to take note. For those
studying the history of the U.S. in Iraq, the comments in the text are also of interest. For instance, McMaster writes “the heroic narrative related by
al-Wardi is significant to American Soldiers [sic]. In this popular portrayal of the Revolt, tribal leaders rebel against the arrogant and insulting
British occupation, asserting their sovereignty through a tribal call to arms strengthened by Jihad” (p. 5).
Wardi’s narrative is not strictly about Iraq. In fact he wrote a history of Safavid Persia, the Ottoman Empire, the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia and
modern Egypt. Of course this made sense because Wardi Iraq was not living in a vacuum; it was deeply impacted by the major currents in the Arab
world. Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt had an impact because it set in motion trends that would change Iraq, for instance. Wardi was unsparing in his
critique and harsh analysis. For instance in describing Shah Abbas’ raids on the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century he notes “Abbas inaugurated
his arrival in Baghdad with a Sunni genocide. Rolls were distributed with the names of Sunni families to be killed” (p. 13). The use of the term
“genocide” here is one used by the editor in his abridgement of the Wardi text and this presents a partial failing. Since Wardi’s eight volumes
cannot be condensed into 200 pages, the authors felt it better to describe or redact the Wardi original. Thus excerpts are not provided, but rather a
dumbed down version of the text. The reader is left to trust the redactor.
In his description of Ottoman Iraq, Wardi presents a state always seemingly at conflict with the Shiite empire in Persia, and also with various tribal
rebellions. Minority populations were sometimes persecuted. For instance, in modern day Iran, Sheikh Mohammad Baqir al-Majlisi “led a zealous
inquisition in 1699 and forced conversions of Sunnis, Zoroastrians, Sufi Muslims, Christians and those ‘Hellenized’ Muslims that had been
influenced by Greek classical philosophy” (p. 16). Subjugating and defeating Bedouin tribal rebellion seems to have taken up a great deal of the
time of Ottoman governors. IN 1708, for instance, “one of the largest confederations [of tribes} in Iraq’s history (page 17)” set upon the outskirts of
Basra in southern Iraq. With supposedly 100,000 fighters they were met on an open plain by the Ottoman army which brought along “cannons,
muskets and grenades (page 17).” Some 10,000 Bedouin were killed. Some 10 years later Ahmed Pasha was again at war with tribes that he
accused of aiding Persia.
Another interesting historical issue that is raised is the accusation that many tribal rebellions sprang from seeming insignificant incidents that could
be describes as insults to one’s honor. In one instance in 1836, Sherief Pasha in Damascus ordered the conscription of 170 Druze men to the
Ottoman army. The Druze leader refused, claimin