International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies - Volume 8, Issue 1, 2014

Al-Wardi was influenced by the philosophical ideas that criticized the assumption that the nature of the human mind is fixed. These ideas come from his reading of Ibn Khaldun, Freud and Mannheim. He reinterpreted their ideas of the mind and applied it to Iraqi society and the Iraqi mind. He believes that human nature is egocentric and determined in most actions, motivated by the subconscious. The role of the mind is to justify human behaviour. The mind is one-sided and biased and is untrustworthy. It is only an organ that aids humans in their quest for survival. Also, the mind has a limited capacity and is surrounded by a dense rim of values, beliefs and interests. Al-Wardi launched a relentless campaign against Aristotelian logic and against reason and rationality. Despite his rational analysis, he could not free himself from the mindset he identified as a farce and did not distinguish between the productive and the instrumental mind.

On the tenth anniversary of the Iraq War of 2003, most scholars agree that the war had serious consequences for the Middle East and the United States. Some journalists now believe that the war coverage constituted a ‘mini-Alamo’ for American journalism. Deficient war coverage damaged the reputation of the American media as a source of reliable news about the United States because of the way it covered the Bush administration’s case for going to war, and the way it reported war’s devastating effect on the Iraqi population. This study analyses how the Bush administration managed to get media compliance for its verbal and visual narrative of the war, thus co-opting American journalism (and by extension, that of other countries that relied on it). The study also illustrates how Arab historical master narratives disseminated by the frames introduced by Al Jazeera through its reporting from the scene challenged and sometimes foiled CENTCOM’s narrative and its psychological operations. Finally, the study illustrates the role of cartoonists in culture-jamming the official narrative by publishing on the Internet, thus undermining the Bush administration’s main Orwellian message that ‘war is peace’. This study suggests that the examination of what went wrong for the media in Iraq provides a cautionary tale about the dangers of acting as government stenographers during wartime.

This article seeks to explore specific modes of visual communication concerning the so called ‘Islamic State of Iraq.’ As an alliance of some Jihadist groups under the lead of al-Qa῾ida in Iraq, this movement managed after the year 2003 to temporarily seize control of some parts of the Iraqi soil and perpetrate mass-casualty attacks. Hence, it still poses one of the most serious threats for the young Iraqi republic.

Regardless of the actual validity of this ‘state’, the article argues that Jihadist groups are able to operate in the Middle East, among other things, because they manage to connect their ideas, norms and beliefs to the cultural memory of their recipients. They employ symbols and semantics that gain effect through re-connection to the religious and cultural heritage. These symbols and semantics are, at the same time, used to frame reality in a specific way and portray the Jihadist ideology as the serious basis for an alternative model for society.

The article will examine the political iconography of the ‘Islamic State of Iraq’ in digitally circulated images. It will present an iconological analysis of the composition and construction of paradigmatic icons and images and will show which motifs, themes and narratives are employed to give meaning to iconographical representations.

Despite the fact that higher education in Iraq has suffered from the scourges of many wars (1980–1988, 1991, 2003), international sanctions (1990–2003) and governments’ interference, since 1968, the vast majority of its members struggled to keep the universities and colleges as effective instruments in teaching, researching and providing the society with qualified graduates. But one cannot deny the many obstacles and challenges that faced these institutions. After 2003, neither the occupying forces nor the political parties they imposed on Iraq showed any real interest in developing this sector. One main reason was, perhaps, because the United States feared the educated and skilled Iraqi brains that were the main reasons behind the successes the country had achieved in the past. {(One could cite the words of the former US secretary of state, Madeline Albright, who answered a question about why the sanctions were still imposed on Iraq while admitting that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were destroyed; she said it was because the brains were still there (Al-Rubaie 2008). Also, the declaration of President Bashar al-Asad who said that following the occupation of Iraq in 2003 he received Colin Powell, then US secretary of state, who warned him against receiving or sheltering Iraqi scientists and academics (al-Mayadeen 2013)}. Also, because of their conservative religious attitudes, the ruling clique after 2003 alienated the technocrats fearing that their role in developing the society and the state could be a real challenge to their own parochial ideologies. The result was an acute deterioration in the field of education in general and higher education in particular.

In general, the higher education system in Iraq was faced with a major challenge, which was represented by the insistence of the different regimes to control the education system. However, the official interference was not always harmful to education in general and higher education in particular. For example, in 1968, the government approved a law requiring the free and compulsory education at all levels, and in 1977, it passed the law for the eradication of illiteracy. UNESCO duly presented Iraq with the prize of the year for eradicating illiteracy in 1982 (Ranjan and Jain 2009). Also, between 1970 and 1980, the regime took a very positive step by sending thousands of students abroad to study for higher degrees. By the end of the decade Iraqi higher education was self-sufficient in all fields of knowledge.

The aim of this essay is to show how the education system has been neglected since 2003 till the present. The article will try to discuss the reality of the higher education system, compare it to the past and look at its future, by examining the main challenges that male and female academics faced during the occupation and the domination of religious-conservative movements in the post-occupation government. The authors’ experience as former members of Baghdad University staff has been the main source for this essay.

Remembering Ali Al-Wardi in post-occupation Iraq

Iraq in Turmoil: Historical Perspectives of Dr. Ali Al-Wardi, From the Ottoman Empire to King Feisal, Youssef H. Aboul-Enein (Cdr.) (2012) Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 224 pp., ISBN:1612510779 (hbk), $32.95USD

Al-Duktûr ‘Alî Al-Wardiwa Dirâsat Al-Mujtama‘ain Al-‘Irâqîwa Al-‘Arabî, Ḥamîd Al-Hâshimî (2011) Baghdad: Maktabat ‘Adnân, 136 pp., ISBN: N/A (pbk), £10

Mi’at ‘Âmma‘a Al-Wardi, Muḥammad ‘Îsâ Al-Khâqânî (2013) London: Dâr Al-Ḥikmah, 328 pp., ISBN: N/A (pbk), £10

Social Glimpses of Modern Iraqi History: Volume 1 The Ottomans, Safavids and Mamluks, Hayder al-Khoei (2010) Saarbruken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 132 pp., ISBN: 3838380282 (pbk), $82.00USD

Al-Bu‘d Al-SiyâsîfîFikr ‘Alî Al-Wardî, Nâhiḍ ḤasanJâbir Al-Sâhûkî (2014) Beirut: Markaz Ḥamûrâbî Lil Buḥûthwa Al-Dirâsât Al-Istirâtîjiyyah, 336 pp., ISBN: 9786144262955 (pbk), $15USD

The Journey of an Iraqi Pan-Arabist

My Memoirs: Half a Century of the History of Iraq and the Arab Cause, Tawfiq al-Suwaydi (2013) Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 545 pp., Introduction by Antony T. Sullivan, translation by Nancy Roberts ISBN 978-1-58826-903-4 (hbk), $55.00

Reclaiming Iraq: The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State, Abbas Kadhim (2012) Austin: University of Texas Press, Contains index, 213 pp., ISBN: 978-0-292-73924-6 (hbk), $55.00

Breaking Iraq – The Ten Mistakes That Broke Iraq, Ted Spain and Terry Turchie (2013) Palisades, NY: History Publishing Co., 310 pp., ISBN: 978-1-933909-53-0 (hbk), $US28.95

Media Practice in Iraq, Ahmed K. Al-Rawi (2012) London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 221 pp., ISBN 978-0-230-35452-4 (hbk), $85.00