Here is where it all began.
In 1921, the country of Iraq was created, its first government chosen, and its future determined-not in Baghdad, but at a closed-door meeting of British officials and specialists in the Semiramis Hotel in Cairo. Two pro-British Iraqis were present.
When the British entered Baghdad in 1917, their commanding officer spoke words that sound eerily familiar today: 'Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators.' In reality, the British considered such declarations, never formalized in treaties or binding agreements, as empty promises to be discarded when they were no longer useful. As the head of English intelligence put it, 'Luckily we have been very careful indeed to commit ourselves to nothing whatsoever.'
In fact, the creation of Iraq was shaped not by the needs of the Iraqi people or principles of justice and self-determination, but by the interests and ambitions of British imperialism - to help insure British control of the Middle East for its strategic location at the crossroads between Africa, Asia and Europe, and its vast and oil reserves. The British understood that petroleum was the lifeblood of modern empire - a crucial prop of global power and wealth on many levels: an essential economic input impacting production costs, profits, and competitive advantage; an instrument of rivalry whose control ensured leverage over other powers and the world economy; and a resource crucial for the projection of military power globally.