Gertrude Bell was one of a select group of Western Arabists who
helped create the modern Middle East. She was arguably the single
most influential individual in Iraq when the British attempted in
the aftermath of World War I to create a nation out of regions that
had long been different provinces of the Ottoman Empire. She was
called upon to produce this succinct but insightful volume as a
guide for the military officers and civil servants who were
attempting to create an Iraqi government. A long dispute over
whether the volume was actually written by her is settled in Dr.
Paul Rich's introduction. It not only was written by Bell, but the
reader can see in what she choose to emphasize just what her own
views on the course that the development of Iraq should take.
Unfortunately Bell's dreams of a successful outcome for Iraq in the
aftermath of the war floundered, partly because of the ineptitude
of the occupiers but partly too because of the irreconcilable
factions that today, so many years later, remain an overwhelming
obstacle to peace. Broken in spirit, Bell took her own life and
joined Lawrence of Arabia in what is a pantheon of romantic if
disillusioned admirers of the Arab lands.
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