The lands that were the birthplace of writing and legal codes now lie in ruins. Abdel-Moneim Said*, in the first instalment of a series of articles, strolls down humanity's earliest memory lane Researchers and anyone who seeks the truth are right to assume that the Arab world, indeed the entire Middle East, has to treat the Iraqi question as one of crucial significance, not only because of what it entails in terms of relations among countries and nations, but also because of the insight it provides into political trends at work in this region. In articles I wrote between September 2002 and January 2003, I suggested that we -- Arabs and inhabitants of vulnerable countries -- were particularly susceptible to international changes, particularly those related to 11 September and the ongoing process of globalisation. The war against terror has blazed a trail of fire in its wake, Iraq being the latest example. Wielding their immense technological advantage, certain powers have sent shock waves across the globe, heralding change and enforcing measures of capitalist transition. The effects of their action have been mostly asymmetrical, depending on who and what was on the receiving end. I will focus here in more detail on the Iraqi question and how it relates to Arab and international issues. The US-Iraqi war, which has just ended, tells us much about Iraq, the United States, and today's world. The conflict in Afghanistan is still ongoing, and so is the war against terror. Yet, the Iraqi campaign had a clear beginning and end. Major combat operations took about two weeks, ending when US troops seized Saddam International Airport on 3 April. Skirmishes took place after that date, even after the fall of Baghdad and Tikrit, as pockets of resistance, perhaps made up of Arab mujahidin, remained active. Sporadic fighting, however, does not mean that the war is still ongoing. War -- if defined as a clash between regular military forces trying to disable each other's command and combat capabilities -- was over within three weeks. It ended when the invading Anglo-Saxon forces managed to disrupt the cohesion of Iraqi troops and stopped the Iraqi army from acting as a coherent and unified fighting force. Once the Iraqi forces disbanded, or surrendered, the burden of fighting passed on to irregulars of uncertain abilities. The resistance they mounted, however, may signal a spirit of defiance that transcends the borders of Iraq as such. Regardless of the timing and duration of the war, its sad end has taken Iraq and the entire Arab people to a peculiar historic juncture. One must mention here that Iraq is not just another Arab country. Only the ancient civilisations of Egypt or China can approximate its Mesopotamian past. According to The Columbia History of the World edited by John Garraty and Peter Gay, these civilisations represented the humanity's first step that took mankind from pre-historic times into recorded history. Human history in the Near East was born in Egypt and Babylonia. It was there that societies matured sufficiently to set their collective memory into record and pass it on to later generations. In a sense, the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations present the origin of historical memory. It was there that humans outgrew the randomness of hunting and gathering and discovered agriculture. Their control over nature did not just bring about economic repercussions. It endowed them with a forward-looking perspective, a sense of planning and learning, and a need to pass on experience to future generations. Excavations indicate that the earliest instances of agriculture-based human settlements occurred in the area extending between Palestine and Iran. Agriculture spread later on to other parts of the world, reaching China around 3500 BC. In Palestine, settled human communities are in record as far back as 7000 BC. Mesopotamian civilisation contained two distinct elements, Babylonia to the north and Sumer to the south. The Bible makes reference to the storytellers of Babylonia, who regaled their audience on the banks of the Euphrates thousands of years ago. The Sumerians, who settled on the banks of Tigris and the Euphrates in the fifth millennium BC, called themselves the dark-headed ones. These short of stature, but heavily boned people managed to turn the dangerous river swamps into well-irrigated farmland, lined with palm trees. Herodotus claims that the fertile land of Babylonia produced crops 200 or 300 times more bountiful than anything seen in other parts of the world. Sumerian engravings show an ancient king giving grain to the ruler of Persia in return for jewels, metal, and stones the Sumerians needed to build and decorate their temples. Sumer had 12 thriving cities, all sharing the same customs, religion, and language. The buildings were originally simple mud structures, but became bigger and more sophisticated with time. The Bible speaks in superlative terms of the towers of Babel. An absolute monarch ruled each city, but not in a tyrannical fashion. The ruler was not the shadow of God on earth, but the people's representative to God. The king was responsible for justice and the enforcement of rules and regulations. Sumerian civilisation did not have a feudal system, but slaves -- mostly prisoners of war -- were employed in households. The social system was based on respect for private property, with the king purchasing the land he wished to retain. Religious institutions had immense economic power and used it to restrain the authority of the king. In 3300 BC, the Sumerians invented writing, two centuries before the Egyptians and a millennium before the Indians did so. The Sumerians were adept in the use of medical herbs and cosmetic appliances. The first known book of law originated in the Mesopotamian city of Ur in 2100 BC. Literary work, from epics to love songs, imparted cultural homogeneity on Sumerian civilisation. The area outlying Sumer to the north was called Akkad. Its capital, Babel, was situated only 20 kilometres from the Sumerian city of Kish. The Akkadians were greatly influenced by the Sumerian civilisation, of which they eventually took control. King Hammurabi, of Akkadian descent, unified the Sumerian and Babylonian civilisations during his 40-year rule. His descendants ruled Mesopotamia for over a century after his death. Such information suffices to assert the extraordinary heritage of contemporary Iraq, and highlight the irony of its current fate. Civilisations have their ups and downs, and Iraq's time of glory came during the Abbasid era, when Baghdad was the seat of the Caliphate and perhaps the greatest city in the world. Decline followed, during the Mameluke and Ottoman eras, but the ambers kept on burning beneath the ashes. Iraq was one of the first Arab countries to gain independence from Ottoman rule and British occupation. It became an independent state and a member of the League of Nations in 1932 -- four years before Egypt was admitted into that organisation. With the exception of the 1948 war, Iraq did not engage in any military activity for the three decades following its independence. Its turbulent history, beginning with its first coup d'etat in 1958, featured four wars fought under various slogans. These wars deserve to be examined in detail, for they speak volumes about the nature of Arab regimes and military and the manner in which they were responsible for the destruction of a once glorious past. * The writer is director of Al- Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
