A recently linked-to article in Stars and Stripes proudly proclaims that a Mongolian contingent has finished U.S. peacekeepr training and is ready to deploy to Iraq.
This surely ranks as one of the worst ideas ever – save for invading Iraq to begin with, of course. Why?
History.
In 1258, Mongol warriors under Hulagu-khan (whom Arabs call Holako) captured and sacked Baghdad, destroying the Caliphate that had existed for over five centuries. In the Muslim world, this calamity equals the fall of Rome and Byzantium combined: not so much the end of an Empire as an end of civilization . The West bounced back from its disaster. Islam … not so much. So, sending Mongolians to help occupy Iraq adds insult to injury, even if it has been 755 years or so and modern Mongolians are hardly Hulagu’s hordes.
Next thing you know, the Empire will be asking Germans to occupy France…
Does anyone at the Imperial Court actually think any more? Oh, right.