Context Research Presentation Week 12- Olivia Mack

This week we will be reading Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag. In this book Sontag talks about war through the perspective of photography and how governments use this journalism to portray war to the viewers. She talks about photo-journalism from a few wars and also images from Operation Iraqi Freedom. To understand the photos that she talks about in this book, specifically Operation Iraqi Freedom, it would be helpful to look at the history and establishment of Iraq.

After World War One, Britain decided to occupy some parts of the middle east to protect strategic interests and communications. They imposed on Iraq and changed much of the government to model that of India. At the San Remo Conference in 1920, the League of Nations had given Britain mandatory powers over Iraq. This led to revolt from the citizens of Iraq. The revolt resulted in a treaty between Britain and Iraq to neutralize Iraqi opposition but they still remained under indirect rule of Britain and also economic dependence on them. The British chose Faysal to become King of Iraq from 1921 to 1933 whose appointment was welcomed by a majority of Iraqis. However, Faysal’s kingdom lacked the most basic governmental infrastructures such as a constitution. Iraqi and Arab nationalists still desired full independence but Britain still attempted to keep power over Iraq. He worked very hard to gain full independence for Iraq and even rejected the Anglo-British agreement that would have legitimized Britain’s hold over Iraq. A constitutional cabinet and assembly were established in 1922. Iraqi eventually gained independence and membership into the League of Nations in 1932 and Faysal died the following year.

Saddam Hussein governed from 1968 to 2003. Under Saddam Hussein, there was the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) which was very costly and devastated the economy. Saddam Hussein was not a popular dictator and was hated by many of the Iraqi citizens. In an interview with Susan Sontag she talks about the importance of knowing the history of the country in question because she claims that if we are aware of the history, then it will allow us to think differently. She also stresses the importance of thinking about how other people feel and uses the example of a citizen in Iraq that hated Saddam Hussein and to they to see from their point of view.

Work Cited

Marr, Pheobe, and Ibrahim Al-Marashi. The Modern History of Iraq, Google Books, 2017, books.google.com/books?id=pb5aDwAAQBAJ%2Cestablishment+of+iraq. Accessed November 6, 2020.

The Kuwait Crisis: Basic Documents. United States, Cambridge University Press, 1991. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Kuwait_Crisis/5xVSkGtcT5YC?hl=en&gbpv=0. Accessed November 6, 2020.

Ghareeb, Edmund A., and Dougherty, Beth. Historical Dictionary of Iraq. United    States, Scarecrow Press, 2004.