why is iraq so important to moslems and jews?

Iraq is incredibly important to both Moslems and Jews because Abraham - the ancestral father of both the Jews and Moslems through his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac - was born c. 1860 BC in Ur, southern Iraq, to a wealthy family headed by his father, Terah.

The family had lived in that area for generations but was forced to flee to Haran in Canaan when Abraham aroused the king's wrath.

Through the generations, the family of Abraham never lost touch with its homeland in present day Iraq which, for a brief period in later Jewish history, was also a place of exile.

In that the Jews, the descendants of Isaac, have already re-established themselves in Israel - the land in which they settled after Abraham's flight from Ur - they may also have an historical claim not just to the southern land of Ur in Iraq but also to Babylon, 90km south-east of Baghdad, the place of their exile in 597BC.

That Iraq was converted to Islam many years ago means that the historical claim to the southern lands of Iraq that the descendants of Ishmael share, too, is fait accompli.

The current situation in Iraq - the invasion of Iraq and the deposition and execution of Saddam Hussein by the USA, its allies and Iraqis opposed to him - and the resultant insurgence by fundamentalist Moslems offended by the presence of non-Moslems on their hallowed land, has opened a new chapter on an old theme that could be bloodier than anything yet seen in history.

The best possible outcome is that a solid democratic system is established without too much further bloodshed, and the Americans and their allies depart leaving the nation in the hands of capable liberal Iraqis who are not hostile to Israel and will strive to maintain a buffer zone to protect Israel from Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Bearing in mind that America is run by big business, especially the oil barons who want their interests in Iraq protected, it is difficult to imagine that after all the blood, guts and money that has been poured into the war that the Americans will leave without strings attached that may anger both the liberal and the fundamentalist Moslems.

The worst possible outcome is that the fundamentalist Moslems continue to prevent a western-style democracy operating in their country by upping the ante - possibly bringing Iran into the picture.

The fundamentalist Moslems know that once Iraq becomes an open society it will not only be polluted by western values that will reduce the power of the Mullahs but it may also become a 'Mecca' for Jewish settlers and tourists wanting to lay claim to Ur and Babylon.

Forget weapons of mass destruction, democratic fervor and oil - the real reason for invasion of Iraq may go right back to Abraham!

will western civilization repeat history?

Western civilization - now led by the USA - appears to be following the same route as the Hellenic civilization which, in its later years, was led by Rome. The Romans crucified Jesus of Nazareth - a revolutionary Jew whom they saw as a rabble rouser - and in doing so they made a martyr of him, allowing his followers to found a new religion based on his life and teachings that eventually swept through to the four corners of the Earth, destroying not only the Hellenic civilization but also the Roman Empire.

The parallels with the current situation in the Middle East are glaring.

Some claim that the clash of civilizations desired by Islamic revolutionaries - such as Osama bin Laden and the young Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq - will not eventuate, ever. They base their claim on the fact that the Islamic world did not rise up to support bin Laden after 9/11, and it never will. They claim that the Islamic world is far too divided along national lines - and is far too eager to remain trading partners with the western world - to become a cohesive belligerent force determined to impose its beliefs on the world.

However, the Jews did not rise up to support Jesus either. In fact, they 'betrayed him' to the Romans in much the same way that liberal Islamic nations wash their hands of the Islamic revolutionaries and 'betray' them to the Americans.

By sparing the lives of prominent Islamic revolutionaries - allowing bin Laden to go free, and negotiating with al-Sadr - America will avoid repeating history. This, in fact, is exactly what America is doing.

Had the Romans allowed Jesus to live and carry on his revolutionary social war against his own people - the Jews - Christianity, if it survived, would have probably remained an eastern cult religion and the Romans would never have had to deal with the spread of religion that ultimately destroyed their own.

Although purely speculative, in that Christianity might have spread with or without the crucifixion of Jesus, America is banking on the belief that revolutionary Islam will die out if its leaders are allowed to live.

However, by invading Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein in order to impose democratic leadership in Iraq - and in doing so hopefully protecting Israel and lessening the spread of Islamic revolutionaries - America is courting trouble because Saddam was more western in outlook than any other leader of the Islamic nations and as monstrous as his regime was it did, at least, keep Iraq free of Islamic revolutionaries and provide its citizens, especially women, with basic freedoms.

The scenario unfolding in Iraq would be like the Romans deposing the Jewish leader in some other city where Jesus was not preaching and imposing upon the Jews of that city a Jewish leader of Roman persuasion in the hope that in doing so the revolutionary Jews, like Jesus, would not spread.

That the Romans did not do this is to their credit for it would have incensed the Jews in that city and no doubt precipitated the very situation that the Romans were trying to avoid.

In invading Iraq, America has, in effect, precipitated the spread of Islamic revolutionaries. In trying to avoid repeating history by making a martyr of the Islamic revolutionaries, America chose a route that the Romans wisely avoided.

If America really wanted to avoid repeating history it might have followed the teachings of Jesus and turned the other cheek.