Origin of Conflict Amongst the US and Iraq Essay

Origin of Conflict Amongst the US and Iraq - Essay Example 10). ISLAM Islam originates from Saudi Arabia and is perceived as successor religion to Christianity; since it clinches a mass of Christian and Jewish beliefs, while at the same time building on several beliefs. These religions belief in prophets of God like Abraham and Jesus being bearers of new messages that change in beliefs, although only Muslims belief in Muhammad as being the last prophet; a belief that is not embraced by other religions (Keegan 2004, p. 35). Islam developed gradually, especially in the fifteenth century all over the world, especially in the Middle East, Africa and some European countries. This tremendous range of Islam was ruled by leaders, caliphs, who assembled religion and civic governance. This association goes against the American belief of proper governance, which implies that religion and government are obviously differing social activities and that the government is restricted from showing support to any particular religion. The Islamic empire grew dra stically which led to different sections of the Islamic empire started breaking into conflicting splinter groups as a result of increased wealth, as well as a variety of interests and customs. The central part of the Islamic empire that is situated in parts of Turkey, Iran and Iraq, transversed by international travel roads from and to China, India and other parts of the Orient (Cashman 2007, p. 48). As anticipated, conflict occurred given that the Middle East, which is currently referred to as Israel, was the place where Christianity, Islam and Judaism originated. As a result, there were military endeavors referred to as Crusades, in an attempt to recapture the Christian Holy Land from Muslims, which created a block of hostility, antagonism, threat and fear amongst the Islamic East and Christian West. Apart from that, succession to Islam’s leadership was the first cause of conflict amongst Muslims; with the main split amongst Sunnis and Shiites, as to who was the genuine suc cessor of Muhammad (Hess 2009, p.76). TRADE ROUTES During the Industrial Revolution, the West developed gradually especially in wealth, physical resources, competence as skills, as well as military experience and power, unlike the Islamic territories. As a result, the West secured more colonial empires by being hostile to countries that influence its trade routes, which in most cases were Islamic. They did this by taking control of countries, or part of countries, and imposing on them rules that were disadvantageous and humiliating to Islamic people and their countries, while, on the other hand, those rules were advantageous to the West (Hiro 2009, p.100) While bringing change, both the British and French were mainly concerned with the short term gains they would achieve by splitting the empire into independent nations, rather than the long term growth of these regions. The British established and implemented their desired government in a place that is currently Iraq, which was perc eived as unsatisfactory by the indigenous leading to the rebellion that prolonged for years, giving rise to the rise of Baath Party that eventually acquired control of Iraq, as well as the rise of Saddam Hussein. Apart from that, this place, which is currently Israel, was set up in a manner that gave British control over the area, and this meant long term suffering in Palestine.